The House of Bone
by kiben007
Summary: Consider, if you will, that the Locust, with all his power, was nothing more than a tool. A weapon, more accurately, designed to destroy a Goddess. If we consider this fact, then two questions are opened up for us: Who was it that could have forged such a weapon? And who could have wielded it?
1. Prologue: An Understanding

In the ten years since the "Glaian Usurpation", as many have taken to calling the drastic series of events that struck the Bone people in the year 2526 AD, countless reports and analyses and summations of the event and its aftermath have been compiled. This book will not number among those countless. This book is a recording of sorts that will attempt to maintain the truth behind the events so fresh in our collective memory. It is an attempt to chronicle our people's long, secret history with the humans of the Valley, and an attempt to put into words the mystery that still surrounds the events of the final hours of the crisis our planet suffered. But in order to accomplish that task, we must first establish context. A baseline, if you will, for our understanding of our people's history.

Two thousand five hundred and thirty six years ago, the race of small, white desert dwelling creatures known as the bones stepped out of the Great Wastes and into the lands in which we now live for the first time. Up until this point, the bones had lived in small, close-knit tribes united under a myriad of clan banners for hundreds, possibly thousands, of years. Upon discovering the existence of the lush, fertile lands to their west, the clans of Nagratek and Deyavara, the two oldest and most powerful clans, rushed out to stake their claims on the vast territory. Closely behind them followed the clans such as Fudrasil, Trenya, and Laz'bethed. These clans spread far and wide to the west, across thousands of miles on unsettled territory, and created a vast sea of kingdoms in an event known as the Diaspora. This patchwork of territories stretched from the eastern desert to the southern plains, the western shores, and to the northern mountains. These small kingdoms, bound together by loose clan heritage, gradually lost their humble desert roots, and created a vibrant, corrupt, and constantly shifting political landscape that lasted for over fifteen hundred years. Then, in the year 1549 After Diaspora, the bone kingdoms were brutally invaded by a race of entirely alien conquerors from across the sea: the humans.

Coming from the Western sea, the Wadralian Thalassocracy, a vast sea empire of many island peoples from the oceans that separate the human and bone continents, waged war on these splintered and unorganized bone kingdoms. The humans carved a bloody path of destruction eastward, forcing the bones almost all the way back to the desert from which they came. On the verge of the bone's defeat, the leader of and last of the Nagratek Clan, Argus Nagratek, stood fast, claiming that their weak and old fashioned traditions had led to their defeat. He cast off his clan name, and took the name of Bone, becoming Argus Bone and forming the House of Bone. Under his leadership, the Bones pushed back, used the human's resources against them, and retook some of their lands. But more humans arrived, and the bones dug in, more casting off their old heritage and joining the new House of Bone. These new humans were relentless, and the bone line of defense was near collapsing when a major shift in the war took place. The humans started dying unprovoked.

They could not breathe the air of the continent for more than a few years before suffering extremely severe convulsions followed by a painful death. With this knowledge, the bones waged a renewed war of attrition against the humans, outlasting them. Eventually the humans abandoned their efforts and the Wadralians descended into a long, bloody civil war that collapsed the Thalassocracy and formed the Wadralain Democracy. After the fires of war were put out at home, Argus Bone and his new House of Bone conquered all of the former bone kingdoms, forming the continent spanning Republic of Bone Territories. This new republic was a shining bastion of progress, and when peaceful relations were established with the newly formed Wadralian Democracy, they adopted much of the culture, policy, politics, and even language of their new ally over the next few centuries.

As old wounds healed and the past rewrote itself, many of the old clan ways died off. Some people kept their traditional clan names, mostly in the northern resource colonies and eastern farm belt, but these acts of cultural defiance could not stop the tidal wave that was the House of Bone. Bones abandoned their roots, took the last name Bone, and joined this forward thinking "clan for the modern ages" as it was called over the next millennium. It celebrated democracy, capitalism, and individualism above all else. These ideals took the central and southern provinces by storm, and very soon Bone became the most popular surname in the entire republic. Life moved on, and left the old traditions of the clan system behind. Many left the eastern heartlands for the other, more prosperous territories, and it wasn't until Big Johnson Bone founded Boneville almost nine hundred years after the end of the Wadralian War that it began to recover. When it did, it too was flooded with the products and cultures of the peoples from across the sea, and the old ways were, for the most part, quickly forgotten.

But in the north there still existed those who hated the humans for destroying their way of life, and hated even more the House of Bone for letting these poisonous ideals corrupt their people. As a result, for centuries they were treated as second class citizens by the "ruling elite" of the House of Bone, and only in the last hundred years have substantial steps been taken to establish equality for those who retained their heritage. But despite the promises of change, the clans still felt marginalized. And drawing on a sense of hatred they had fostered for almost a thousand years, they vowed revenge, and began hatching a plan. In the late 2470's and early 2480's, powerful members of dozens of clans pooled their resources into terrorist organizations in an attempt to overthrow or overtake the government. The resulting clash between government forces and terrorist networks lasted until 2501, when a government black ops team managed to drive the terrorist networks underground.

The situation seemed placated for over two decades, until Senator Phoncible P. Bone was elected President of the Republic in 2525. The Senator, who had served two consecutive terms after his and his cousin's return from the Valley in 2521, was entirely unfamiliar with the clan situation. As a result, the underground terrorist networks chose his presidency to resurface and attempt to overthrow the government once again, this time under the leadership of Glaian Nagratek, self-titled "All-Consuming" and self-proclaimed "Last of the Nagrateks". It was this situation that led to the "Glaian Usurpation", as well as the events chronicled here in this book: the Third Valley War and the Crisis of the Black Eye.

_\- Excerpt from the intro to "The Valley Wars: The History of the House of Bone and the Valley Peoples." By Archibald Bone._


	2. Chapter 1: Resolve

Author's Note: As of June 27th, 2016, the entire fanfic has been rewritten. That means this chapter, all that came before it, and all that follow it now contain different content that they did previously. You are strongly encouraged to go back and reread the entire fanfic from the beginning, as the revised continuity may confuse you if you jump in part of the way through.

* * *

Fire. There was fire all around him. Marching its way across the continent and into the Valley, burning everything and everyone he loved. And it was his fault. He could feel it, somewhere deep in his soul, as he stood upon the ridge of the Dragon's Stair, looking down upon the destruction he had caused. He had brought it. The Consuming flames were of a single entity, hell bent on burning everything in the Valley, in the world, an all-consuming rage that swallowed his existence. He screamed.

Fone Bone woke with a start, breathing heavily and on the verge of panic. Eventually, he calmed down, and looked around to reassure himself that he wasn't standing in the middle of an inferno. He lived in a fully furnished residence room of the Presidential mansion. The walls were painted a very boring beige color, and the paintings on the wall were only half interesting landscapes, but other than that Fone couldn't find a complaint. He had a comfortable bed, a desk for writing, a kitchen, a bathroom, and even a small living room, complete with couch and TV.

The familiar surroundings put him at ease, but Fone couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen soon. The weird dreams had been getting worse, the fire more potent with each passing night. He never paid much attention to them before he had been to the Valley, but now… He was sure there was more to them than he realized at the time.

He forced himself out of his bed and over to the kitchen, where he began to make breakfast. Biscuits and jam. They reminded him of those cakes Thorn used to make way back when. Thorn… His heart fluttered as he thought back to their time together. Eventually, he shook himself out of his nostalgia, plopped himself on the couch with his food and began to eat. He absentmindedly turned on the television, and was greeted with the RCNN, the Republic Continental News Network.

"…as the third and final installment of the thrilling, breathtaking new fantasy series, "Tales of the Valley: Harvest" is scheduled to hit shelves tomorrow, a thought provoking interview with the author Fone Bone, cousin of President Phoncible P. Bone, went viral over the weekend. Here's a clip of the man himself answering some questions about what took place in his year in the desert with his cousins and what inspired him to write such an amazing work of literature." The feed switched from the news anchor to the fireplace in parlor of the presidential mansion, where Fone had conducted the interview the week prior. He sat on one side, and his interviewer, a sharply dressed young woman sat on the other.

"So, Mr. Fone." His interviewer began. "There have been a number of critics of your books who take issue with the main character, Thorn. Some don't understand the point of having an empowering human main character, given the audience you're writing for, and others consider it outright offensive to write a book from the perspective of a human at all, considering the history between our two species. Who would you respond to those statements?"

"Well." The Fone on screen began speaking. "I don't really consider our past history with humans much of a hot button topic. We, as a country, are uniquely isolated from outside conflict. I believe this leads to the unnecessary, sometimes outright obsessive degree to which some Bones obsess over past conflicts. The supposed conflict we have with humans is particular enticing to these people, and they tend to lash out at anything human related they see around them. My books aren't supporting some sort of "Humanist agenda". I'm simply trying to tell the stories I have in me to tell, and due to the nature of those stories, some people will take issue with them. I've accepted that fact and moved on, but I don't think the opinions of an extremely vocal minority should influence my creative process."

Fone turned the television off and put his dishes up as his thoughts began to wander again. That interview had been… interesting. He had to make up every single word because people had to believe that the valley didn't exist. It was bad enough that a member of the "House of Bone" was president again, but if the radicals up north found out humans still lived in this half of the world they would go ballistic. Not to mention the fact that the last time they had tried to convince anyone the Valley existed, they were laughed out of the offices of the Boneville Explorer's Society, an organization their parents all used to work for, and only a scant few bones actually believed them. Those bones were Norman, Emmy, and Percival, who had all disappeared years ago trying to find the Valley.

Writing of his adventures as fiction books seemed like the only thing he had left to do with his time anymore. When they got back Fone Bone had to first convince the townspeople not to kill Phoney. He eventually succeeded, and they were welcomed back into the town with open arms, and a few eggs. After they got settled again, Phoney reached out to one of his old business partners and got himself back into the export and manufacturing business. But this time he did it to help people instead of horde money for himself. The year in the valley and the trip back really changed him. He helped countless families across the nation out of poverty, was serving as a senator before the year was out, and was eventually elected president. After that, the four of them, Bartleby included, moved to Argus City, the capital of the nation. Now Fone Bone just lived in the presidential mansion with Phoney, Smiley and Bartleby, writing his books, staying out of world affairs, and thinking more and more about Thorn.

Every day he missed her more, and slowly began to realize that although he loved his cousins, he didn't feel he belonged with them anymore. For the past twenty years, with the exception of their excursion into the valley, all he had done was help his cousins out of tight situations. And since Phoney had finally put himself on the straight and narrow, Fone slowly felt it was time to move on. He felt he left some part of himself back in the valley, and needed to return there to be whole again.

Finally, after much internal debate, he came to terms with his need to return. That morning, after he finished his breakfast, he packed his backpack with a few personal items, among them Thorn's map and his hardback copy of Moby Dick. And slinging his backpack over his shoulder, he walked out of his room, his heart jumping with anticipation. He was going back to the Valley. He would probably have to walk there, but he didn't really care. He would go back. It was where he belonged.

* * *

Phoney stared down at the suit he wore, which he found immensely restricting compared to his usual black t-shirt, and the tie around his neck, which he had chosen to have emblazoned with a golden star, and contemplated the whirlwind that had been his life. As he did so, he stood at the head of a large oblong table, while his various military and foreign policy advisors sat around it equally lost in though. They were all, including Phoney, staring at the documents in front of them: maps of the focal points of growing dissent, known and estimated terrorist cell locations, intercepted communications between Glaian and a ring of spies he had somewhere in Argus City, memos on the estimated change in Phoney's public approval rating depending on how the situation resolved, and even charts and figures of various projected casualties, military and civilian, if the situation escalated into war. He was hoping it didn't have to come to that, but he was running out of options. He started to consider possible solutions, and became lost in the tactical labyrinth that had consumed the last year of his life.

"Mr. President." He heard a voice, though it sounded too far away for him to match it with a specific person or place. "Mr. President!" Phoney snapped back into reality. His Secretary of State was trying to get his attention.

"I apologize, Secretary Deyavara. I lost my train of though. As I was saying, Glaian is a man of the people. Every time he hacks into the airways to broadcast another one of his "live speeches" the masses eat it up. His public approval soars more every day. Assassinating him will only make him a martyr, and stomping him now with a show of force with only create more reasons for them to hate us and more problems twenty or thirty years from now when someone else figures out how to aim their rage like he can. We have to disarm him, show the people that he isn't who he claims. Expose him for the madman he really is. We can't make him a messiah to these people, we have to make him a demon."

"And how do you propose we do that." Asked Secretary of State Daniel Deyavara. Like everyone else in the room save for Phoney himself, he was in his mid-sixties, and had seen more than his fair share of conflict decades ago, the last time anti-"House of Bone" terrorism was on the rise. He wanted to do whatever he could to prevent that from happening again.

"I don't know exactly how yet. That's why I called this meeting. I wanted all of your opinions on this subject before we start to construct a plan to deal with this threat. Now, unfortunately Secretary Freeman couldn't make it, but he did have General Victor and the rest of the Joint Chiefs draw up some preliminary-" There was a knock on the door, and the entire room fell silent. One of the secret service officers guarding the room opened it a crack to see who it was.

"It's your cousin, sir." The officer said. Phoney sighed.

"I apologize gentlemen, but I suppose I should go see what he wants. The General can present his ideas while I deal with this… whatever it is." Phoney said. He got up from his chair and stepped outside to greet his cousin, who was standing in the hallway with his backpack that he brought to the Valley packed up. "Where are you going?" Phoney asked him, though he already knew the answer.

"Back." Fone Bone replied.

"Back? Why would you go back to the Valley?" He said in a hushed tone as he closed the door behind him.

"You know why."

"It's her isn't it? What is with you! I told you to forget about her. We have a good life here. I'm doing good work for once and your entertaining millions of fans. What do you need her for?"

"Five years we've been back, and for all you've done you haven't changed a bit. It's still all about materials for you. Now instead of how much money you make, it's how many people you help. You still go about accomplishing everything with a disturbing level of emotional detachment."

"Where's this coming from? I'm trying to do good work, I thought that's what you wanted?"

"You are doing good work, but you haven't matured. You haven't grown as a person, really. You've always felt that you know what's best for me, despite not nothing anything about why I do what I do, and that hasn't changed."

"I haven't grown? Look at you chasing a pipe dream. Even if you went back, it's been five years. Who's to say she isn't already married with kids by now? You're twenty seven, you need to start thinking about the future, not fantasizing about some past crush."

"It's more than just that. I love her, it's that I don't belong here anymore. I finished my books, now I don't have anything keeping me here anymore."

"What about us? Me and Smiley and Bart? We're still here!"

"Phoney, since I could walk I've done nothing but pull your ass out of harm's way, so now that you've moved on and gone honest, I have nothing keeping me here. I have no purpose. I love you guys, but being in the Valley gave me a sense of being, a sense of belonging. I have to go back. I don't expect you to understand why I'm going, but I need you to respect the fact that I am, and you can't stop me."

"Fine. I guess I can't sway you. But don't come crying to me when your precious Thorn is in the arms of another man." Phoney began to leave. But before he opened the door again, he sighed and turned back to face Fone. "That being said, I don't want you to die out there. Talk to Archibald. I'm sure he can fix you up with something."

"Thanks Phoney. I knew you'd come around eventually. I guess this is goodbye."

"Goodbye Fone. Safe travels." Fone Bone turned around and headed down to the workshop to get a car from Archibald, while Phoney reached for the door again. Before he could open it, he was interrupted again. This time, his phone began vibrating. He looked around to make sure no one was listening in, then he took his phone out and answered the call.

"Silas, this isn't a good time. I'm in the middle of a meeting with my advisors." Phoney whispered. On the other end of the line was Silas Cohen, Phoney's old business partner and mentor.

"Oh come on, Phoney. Don't be like that. I just called to tell you I finished securing your re-election campaign funds, for when you need them."

"Good." Phoney responded curtly, attempting to end the conversation and get back to his meeting.

"So does this make us even for the prune tarts?" Silas asked innocently. Involuntarily, Phoney cracked a smile. Silas was the one who had found him the deal on prune tarts for his mayoral campaign announcement six years ago.

"Maybe. But you still owe me for the faulty campaign balloon. That thing caused me more grief than you could possibly imagine. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a government to run. We can speak later." Without another word, Phoney hung up the phone and went back inside the war room. He returned to his seat and addressed his advisors.

"I trust you have all been made aware of our options. Now we have to narrow those down to only the slightly bad ones." As he settled in for the meeting, he had a feeling there wasn't going to be an easy solution. Or a quick one.

* * *

Glaian Nagratek, The All-Consuming, Last of the Nagrateks, and leader of the purported uprising, sat on a cot in the private chambers of his mountain fortress, rubbing the small, jagged X shaped scar on his forehead and looking at the cover of a book that had recently been brought to his attention. The room itself was plain, almost ascetic in its lack of decoration or detail of any kind. The walls were stone. He slept on a cot to prove he wasn't above the struggles of any of his men, and the only other furniture in the room was a wooden trunk his father had left him. As he sat on the edge of the cot, he looked at the book he held in his hands.

"Tales of the Valley. What a bunch of humanist drivel." He muttered to himself. He cast the book aside. Internally though, he knew that if there was even the slightest chance that humans were still left on the continent, it could whip his troops into a frenzy. And perhaps they would be bold enough to attack those pigs in the capital. He silently thanked this Fone Bone. Whoever he was, he had given Glaian the tool he needed to galvanize his forces.

He stood from his cot and walked over to the trunk. He opened it, and pulled from within a purple and red hooded cloak. He drew the hood over his head, the large eye emblazoned on the front overlapping with his scar. As he wore the cloak, he thought back to his father.

"Almost there, old man." He muttered to himself. "Soon, everything will be in place, and our Lord's vision will come to pass." After he had readied himself, he opened the door to his chambers and walked through the stone hallways of his base of operations. Eventually, he reached a large set of wooden double doors. He pushed them open and addressed the army amassed in the courtyard before him.

"Brethren, I stand before you today to bring you news of our ongoing struggle. It seems the humans have yet to be driven from our shores as completely as the government claims. Let me peel back their lies for you, and expose the ugly truth the House of Bone has kept just under the surface…" As he spoke he could feel the crowd's anger growing. He smiled. He felt the coming days were going to be a very, very busy time indeed. This war was just beginning.


	3. Chapter 2: Greeting and Goodbyes

Author's Note: As of June 27th, 2016, the entire fanfic has been rewritten. That means this chapter, all that came before it, and all that follow it now contain different content that they did previously. You are strongly encouraged to go back and reread the entire fanfic from the beginning, as the revised continuity may confuse you if you jump in part of the way through.

* * *

Fone Bone half walked and half jogged down the hallway to Archibald's workshop. He couldn't believe it. Phoney decided to support his decision. Ever since he became president, Phoney's true feelings about people began to show through more and more. Deep down, Phoney really wanted what was best for them. He guessed that Phoney finally realized that Fone could decide that for himself from now on, but before he could dwell on the matter any further, he bumped into Smiley and Bartleby.

"Hey cuz!" Smiley shouted jovially as he and Bartleby rounded a corner Fone had just passed. The pair ran to catch up with him. "Where're you goin' all in a hurry with your stuff packed? Did you decide to go camping with us?"

"No, Smiley…" Fone paused. He didn't know what Smiley's reaction to the news would be. Smiley's past had been, to say the least, traumatic. He lost his parents in the same accident that had taken Fone's and Phoney's. But while Fone was too young to remember and Phoney was old enough to maintain some semblance of self-control, Smiley closed up for a very long time, was bullied during the few years afterword that he continued to go to school, and had only begun to seriously recover a year or so prior to their journey to the Valley. Despite this, Fone felt that he at least owed Smiley a straight up response. "I decided that I'm going back to the Valley." Fone cast his eyes down in preparation for Smiley's response.

"Well that's great news. Promise me and Bartleby you'll tell us all about your adventures if you ever get the chance to come back." Fone was a little shocked. He didn't think Smiley would take the news so well. Back in the valley Smiley put on a good front of unconditional support when Fone was deciding to return to Boneville or stay in the Valley. But if his efforts to sway Fone in the last few days of their journey with Thorn were any indication, then Smiley really wanted Fone to come back with him and Phoney. So now that Smiley seemed content to let Fone go, he was quite surprised.

"Just like that, you're just ok with me leaving? No regrets, no long goodbyes? No nothing?"

"Nope. I told you, I support whatever decision you make. That still holds true now. And to be honest, watching you wallow around here the past couple of years has been really depressing."

"Thanks Smiley. What about you Bart?" The purple rat creature had been silent the entire conversation, but tentatively decided to speak his mind.

"I think I'll miss you Fone, but if the Valley is where you need to be, then I won't stop you. Promise you'll come back and visit some time?"

"I promise Bartleby, I promise." Fone patted the poor looking creature on the head absentmindedly, but eventually he looked Bartleby in the eyes and smiled. The rat smiled back, and suddenly Fone Bone felt a brand new rush of resolve. "I'll return eventually, and with brand new tales of wild and grand exploits. Just you wait. Thanks for the pep talk Smiley."

"Any time cuz. Now if you'll excuse me, ol' Bartleby and I have got some packing to so for the camping trip this weekend. See ya around Fone. And say hi to Thorn and Gram 'ma Ben for me!" Smiley's last sentence faded as they walked back around the corner they had come from, and Fone walked down the corridor with renewed zeal. He started humming himself a tune as he approached the entrance to Archibald's workshop.

The workshop run by Archibald Bone was by far the strangest place in all of Argus city. Archibald was thirty-five, the same age as Phoney, and about as tall as Phoney or Fone. His defining characteristic was his hair, a rare trait among bones, which he dyed silver and cut short a number of years ago. He was a recent acquaintance Phoney had met through his old mentor Silas, and who Phoney had appointed head of cyber security for the mansion. The position allowed Archibald to live in and conduct his experiment in the presidential mansion in a large office space he referred to as his workshop. Inside this magical funhouse he designed and built cars, worked out new theories in physics, and conducted a myriad of chemical and biological experiments in the most eccentric and least organized frenzy of creativity Fone had ever seen, alongside maintaining the integrity of the Presidential Mansion's networks. Archibald was currently examining what looked like a very, very delicate mechanical part on his workbench using a headset that vaguely resembled night vision goggles.

"Archibald… Archibald!" Fone shouted. Archibald didn't respond. "Damn it man whatever you're doing can't be that important!" Fone shouted again. In his experience, excessive yelling was the only way to get Archibald's attention.

"Ah, Fone. I didn't see you come in." Archibald responded disinterestedly. "Please sit down, I'll be with you in a moment." Archibald didn't look up.

"There still aren't any chairs in here, Archie."

"Quite right… quite right." Archibald finally looked up and walked over to where Fone was standing. "In that case, I'll just see what you want now."

"I'm going out into the desert, and I need a car. Something fast and reliable."

"Why? What do you expect to find out there in the wastes?" Archibald crossed his arms, slightly intrigued.

"Call it… inspiration. I might be gone awhile."

"Ahh yes. Returning to the locations you experienced such a rush of new ideas before in order to try and break you out of the writer's block you must be experiencing after finishing a series of such depth. I see."

"Whatever gets you to get me my car faster." Fone shrugged. Archibald turned around and stared at the wall and then the ceiling for a few moments before abruptly calling out.

"Of course. That one will do." He wandered over to one of the myriad of tables in the workshop and picked up a key. He turned it over in his hand several times before returning to Fone and pressing the key into his hand. "This will unlock the car for you. Head straight down into the parking lot and find spot number 47B. The car is partially invisible however, so don't be worried if you don't see it at first."

"Partially invisible?" Fone asked quizzically.

"Yes, one of its many features ideal for desert travel. It can camouflage itself in almost any environment. It also can store water for up to six weeks in tanks on the underbelly, can become fully air tight in case of a sandstorm, and has fully independent axels for precarious climbing just to name a few features. This is one of my best beauties Fone. Take good care of her."

"And if I don't come back with it? Or at all?"

"Then I'll just make a new one of course. I won't be particularly angry, that one's just a prototype anyway, but I'd rather not spend all of that time away from my calculations. Speaking of which, shove off. I have work to do. I discovered a whole new quantum field that interfaces with the quartzite structures in the… the…" He trailed off. Before Fone could ask what was bothering him, Archibald sprung to life again. "Excuse me I seem to have lost my train of thought. Have fun in the desert."

"I'll try Archie. Have fun with the, uh, calculations." Fone walked out of the other entrance to Archibald's workshop and through another hallway into the adjacent parking lot. After a bid of searching around, he found spot 47B, only to find it empty. Fone put his hand out into the air where the car should be, and it bumped against something metallic that he couldn't see. Fone was mildly surprised that the car was indeed invisible, since Archibald's inventions only seemed to work half the time. He pressed the unlock button on the keys and the nonexistent car in front of him beeped in acknowledgement. Then it made itself visible, and the driver's side door opened up. He got into the car, threw his backpack onto the back seat, turned it on, and sped out of the parking lot and onto the streets of Argus City. He took a moment to position himself in his mind and then started driving towards the direction of Boneville and the Great Wastes.

Archibald meanwhile was looking at his device, and then his calculations, and then at the book sitting half open on his desk. "The dreaming huh…" he muttered to himself. "Interesting. I guess this means it's time."

* * *

"It's a bad idea." Secretary Deyavara insisted.

"It's the only idea worth considering." General Victor Bone retorted. "There's no way a member of the best black ops unit in this country's history could be outdone by a few ragtag rebels in the mountains." The two of them had been arguing for the past few minutes. Phoney was growing impatient.

"Assassination will backfire. Even if we're successful, his men will only use his death as a symbol to rally behind."

"It isn't assassination, it's a duel."

"So we only send in one of them, then? That makes even less sense."

"I worked at the Federal Intelligence Commission for years in that unit, and never once did any of them loose a fight. One will suffice."

"I know that. I ran that unit, remember?"

"Then what's got you so hesitant?"

"Jigafta and X'lish are in exile, Nibet's turned traitor, and we can't afford to send in you or Admiral Haenkos. Which just leaves…"

"Faldr Milzaek." General Victor completed the Secretary's thought. "He's good. Good enough to get through this, at any rate. He and Glaian fight on equal terms, and when Milzaek wins, Glaian's forces have to respect the agreement."

"He's hesitant. He may be a good fighter, but he's the only one who isn't a killer."

"I've seen him kill before. This is Glaian _Nagratek _we're talking about. That name alone should be enough to send him into a frenzy."

"He retired twenty-five years ago after that disaster in Boneville. Who's to say he even want to get back into the fight?"

"I know him. He wouldn't turn down an offer to put down another one of these terrorist psychopaths."

"Even if that's true, we have no guarantees that Milzaek will win. He's almost fifty. He passed his prime years ago, and we don't know what kind of combat experience Glaian has. Or if Nibet will interfere."

"It's the option with the greatest change of success. Anything else will turn the tide irrevocably in Glaian's favor. In any case, it isn't up to us. The President has the final say. Speaking of which, have you reached a decision yet, Mr. President?" The General asked as he turned to address Phoney at the head of the table. Phoney sighed and stood up.

"If General Victor thinks it's out best option, it's our best option. Contact Faldr, and begin preparing the war room for the operation. I want to oversee this directly. You're all dismissed."

"Yes Mr. President." The various advisors slowly got up and walked out of the room, and President Phoncible left to go make a public appearance. Soon Secretary Daniel was alone in the hallway. It was then that he dared to attempt contact. He got out his phone and called the restricted number. A woman's voice answered.

"Yes Mr. Secretary?"

"I tried to dissuade him, but he's sending in Milzaek anyway. He's going ahead with the plan and we aren't prepared. If Glaian gets killed now, we don't have any information on his supplier. Use whatever means necessary to stop Milzaek from dueling with him, but if the situation crumbles, grab everything you can and report back to base. I won't see everything we've built here destroyed in a single day."

"As you wish, Daniel Deyavara. Nibet Trenya out." He began to breathe easier. Nibet had always scared the living hell out of him, even when she had to follow his orders. He silently prayed that her loose cannon nature didn't screw up the yearlong sting operation he had set up. But, if she did manage to get the information they were looking for, he would be one step closer to unraveling the mystery of the object burning a hole in his pocket.

He took it out when he once again checked to make sure no one was around. It was a small blue crystal, no bigger than his thumb. It had been given to him by a man named Jigafta Utenki, a former member of the black ops unit Daniel Deyavara used to run. When Jigafta gave it to him, he also told him to figure out where it came from. And after twenty-five years of studying it in a lab and tracking it through time, Deyavara finally pegged its source. The illusive individual, or group of individuals, that had funded terrorist efforts decades ago, and were most probably currently funding Glaian's army. The longer he stared at the crystal, the longer he was drawn into it, and the more he needed to know all of its secrets.

"…Are you alright, Secretary Deyavara?" Daniel heard a voice behind him, snapping him out of the pseudo-trance he had slipped into. He whirled around to see who it was, and noticed that he was in a completely different hallway. The person who had pulled him back into reality was Secretary of Defense Julius Freeman. He promptly slipped the crystal back into his pocket. "You looked… lost, for lack of a better word." Secretary Freeman looked concerned.

"I'm sorry. I was just thinking to myself." Daniel quickly came up with a convenient excuse. He hadn't even noticed he was moving. He couldn't even recall what had happened after he began staring at the crystal in the slightest. Wishing to put the business behind him and get out of the situation, he changed subjects. "I didn't realize you were going to be here today. I thought you had family matters to attend to."

"I did, but as soon as I got word that the President was calling in Faldr Milzaek I knew I couldn't miss another second of this operation." Daniel was a bit alarmed at this. If Secretary Freeman had already heard of the operation and had time to arrive at the Mansion, he must have been looking at that crystal for over an hour. Perhaps two. He had to go make sure.

"Yes, I'm sure it'll be quite something. Now, if you excuse me, I've got to go make a call." He turned around and rounded the nearest corner, leaving Secretary Freeman's line of sight. He checked his watch, and found that almost an hour and a half had passed since the meeting ended. And he couldn't recall anything that had happened during that time. But he pushed that from his mind. He would worry about it later. In the meantime, he had to make a call.

* * *

Faldr Milzaek was almost fifty years old, though it was hard to gauge that just by looking at him. Since he lacked hair like most members of his species, his head was devoid of the grey hairs that would normally signify old age. In fact, other than a few recent wrinkle marks, he looked like any other middle aged adult bone. He was asleep, and completely naked save for a white and blue flower print shirt, in a hammock strung between two palm trees. A few dozen feet away, the waves lazily lapped against the shoreline of the beach he had inhabited the last two and a half decades of his life. That beach happened to lie on the shoreline of the smallest of the sparsely populated Cartonal Islands, a Republic of Bone Territories possession in the Wadral Sea. Because of the scarcity of visitors, there was no one in sight save for one lone surfer out in the water: his wife X'lish Trenya. They had met years ago, back when the two of them worked for the FIC, and moved to simple beach house in the Cartonal Islands after her exile from the country. Neither of them cared much, however, since they quickly got used to spending all of their time surfing and relaxing on the sand.

What they hadn't intended, however, was for their friend Jigafta Utenki to move there with them. He spent most of his time to himself in a cave, but occasionally reminded the couple of his existence with a round of beers and a night spend by a fire reliving their time as professional killers. As Faldr relaxed in his hammock that morning, however, Jigafta decided to pay them a visit for entirely different reasons.

Jigafta ambled wistfully down the hill on the side of Faldr opposing the beach. Despite being more than ten years older than Faldr, Jigafta's face was a picture of youth, lacking even a single wrinkle. What he did bear, however, was a series of long scars. One across the bulb of his nose, another down the side of his face, and a third through the corner of his lips. As he made his way to Faldr's hammock, he gripped a small, black briefcase.

"Wake up." Jigafta hissed as he slammed the briefcase on Faldr's stomach.

"You're in a mood today." Faldr muttered as he opened his eyes and adjusted to the light. "What happened, did the store run out of booze?"

"Pull yourself together. And open the briefcase."

"What is it?" Faldr asked as he popped the latches on the front and lifted the top. A small video screen with a small camera built in was imbedded in the lid, and a keyboard made up the bottom half. In the corner of the keyboard, next to a button labeled "call" was a blinking orange LED. Faldr stared at the device, confused. "This thing is ancient. What is it, some sort of convoluted computer?"

"It's a device Daniel gave me years ago in case I ever needed a reliable way to contact him." Jigafta bent down and pressed the call button. The orange LED stopped blinking, and maintained a steady orange glow. "But it appears he has called us." Jigafta leaned back up as the screen flickered to life. As the feed cleared up, Phoney appeared on screen, wearing a very somber expression.

"That isn't Daniel." Faldr pointed at the screen, stating the obvious.

"You and I have never met face to face before." Phoney began, ignoring the comment. "I am the President of the Republic of Bone Territories, Phoncible P. Bone. And I need your help, Faldr Milzaek."

"You're the President?" Faldr asked, examining Phoney's face. "You're younger than me. I must be getting pretty old."

"I would appreciate it if you took this seriously, agent Milzaek. We have a grave situation on our hands, and-"

"Let me stop you right there." Faldr interrupted. "I'm retired. I have been for over two decades. I'm done being an agent. Why should I just drop everything and come back to work like nothing's happened."

"Would it help if I told you the target was a man named Glaian Nagratek?" Phoney asked as he held up a picture of Glaian's face. Faldr froze as he heard the name. Suddenly he became very serious.

"Did you just say Nagratek?" Faldr asked. Phoney smirked and put the photo down.

"Yes. He's a terrorist who has hold himself up in a fortress in the far north. We need you to challenge him to a duel, defeat him, and force him to disband his forces."

"So I don't get to kill him?" Faldr gripped the top of the briefcase. His muscles began to tense up.

"That all depends on how effectively you negotiate the terms of the duel. His forces should uphold the conditions, even if it is a fight to the death."

"When do I go?"

"I assume that means you'll be taking the job, then."

"When do I go?" Faldr repeated himself.

"I've dispatched a helicopter from Camp Stalwart. It should arrive in an hour or two. From there you'll be taken as far north as the no-fly zone."

"No-fly zone?"

"Somehow, Glaian got his hands on a number of surface to air missiles, so we can't risk flying our helicopters near his fortress. It shouldn't be a problem for you, though."

"Do I need to pack any gear?"

"You'll be provided with everything when the helicopter arrives. Weapons, explosives, supplies for the journey on foot, an earpiece so we can remain in constant contact, and combat armor with a built in tracker so we can monitor your progress. Any other burning questions?"

"Yeah. Why is there a gold star sewn into your tie? That seems a little gauche." Faldr relaxed his grip and loosened his attitude again.

"I sincerely hope your skills are sharper than your wit. The helicopter will arrive in a few hours." Phoney unceremoniously cut the feed. The screen blinked off, and the orange LED faded to black.

"Well, that was certainly entertaining." Jigafta remarked. He gently closed the briefcase and lifted it from Faldr's lap. Faldr sat up and swung himself off of his hammock. Just as Jigafta was about to leave, he noticed X'lish approaching them, wearing a wetsuit and with her surfboard tucked under her arm.

"How was the water today?" Faldr asked as she planted her board on the ground and leaned it against one of the palm trees. She picked up a towel from the base of the tree before responding.

"Good. What's going on over here?" She replied, eyeing Jigafta and the briefcase as she dried her short, black hair. "You're never here this early."

"I got a call from Deyavara's emergency line." He lifted the briefcase into the air and pointed at it. "It was the President. He asked your idiot husband to come out of retirement." X'lish looked from Jigafta to Faldr, her eyes wide with disbelief.

"And you turned him down, right?" She asked her husband. He looked down sheepishly, avoiding her gaze. "You said yes!" She screamed. "How could you! Faldr, you know we left that life behind! We swore to each other we were done! How could you just-"

"The target is a Nagratek." He interrupted her tirade. "I have to do this."

"No, you don't. You got revenge for your father already. And besides, anyone can just claim to have been born with the name Nagratek. That doesn't mean they're related to-"

"I can't take that chance. If there's even the slightest possibility that it's Kelkaid Nagratek's son, I have to go. I have to make sure this ends. I don't expect you to approve, but I'm going." X'lish was silent for a moment.

"I suppose I can't stop you. But promise me this is it. That you won't run off in the middle of the night like Nibet to pursue some wild nostalgic fantasy."

"I promise." Faldr began walking up the hill toward their house. "Now, if you don't mind, I've go to go dig up my old sword." X'lish rolled her eyes.

"I'll go get the shovel." She followed him up the hill. Jigafta watched them go, and was about to follow them when he heard the briefcase beep again. He opened it back up, and the light was back on. He pressed the call button, and Daniel Deyavara's face flickered onto the screen.

"Daniel?" Jigafta asked. "What is it you need? Does the President still need to speak with Faldr?"

"No." Daniel cast his eyes down as he collected his thoughts. He looked extremely distraught. "My call is rather more… classified in nature. Do you remember that crystal you gave me before you fled the country?"

"Yes. Did you identify the supplier?"

"No, unfortunately, thought I should have something from Nibet in a few days. I'm calling because…" He paused. "I think it's stealing my memories. I know it sounds weird, but every time I've looked at it recently I get lost in some sort of wandering trance for hours at a time, and I can't quite recall what happens during them. Whatever this thing is, it's highly dangerous. I've locked it in a secure vault for now, but… I'm either losing my mind or something is happening here that I can't quite grasp. Something bad."

"So it's activated, huh?" Jigafta began muttering to himself. "That can't be good. That shouldn't even..." He went silent.

"Jigafta?" Daniel asked, his voice growing anxious. "What is it? Do you have any idea what's going on?"

"I've got a hunch. I'm going to have to gathers some materials for a few days. In the meantime, sit tight, act normal, and wait for me to contact you again."

"What do you mean materials? Jigafta, what's going on?" Daniel became frustrated.

"Don't worry about it. The chances of you actually being in danger are astronomically low, but I have to make sure. I'll call you again in a few days when I can know for sure." He disconnected the call, closed the briefcase, and made his way to the cave he lived in. he ducked through the small entrance and made his way to the back of the space that constituted his shelter. As he walked, he passed a table to his right. He threw the briefcase on it and grabbed two silenced handguns. He threw them, along with a knife and a set of black clothing, into a bag. Finally he arrived at the back of the cave. In the back was a small wooden box sitting on a small wooden dresser. He opened the box and pulled a golden chain necklace with a large blue crystal pendant on the end from inside.

"Well, Ven." He said aloud as he put the necklace in the bag as well. "It seems we get to go home after all."


	4. Chapter 3: The Calm Before

Author's Note: As of June 27th, 2016, the entire fanfic has been rewritten. That means this chapter, all that came before it, and all that follow it now contain different content that they did previously. You are strongly encouraged to go back and reread the entire fanfic from the beginning, as the revised continuity may confuse you if you jump in part of the way through.

* * *

"Fone Bone! The Palace is collapsing! We need to get out of here!" Thorn shouted as she ran down the hallway. About halfway down she stopped and turned around. "What's keeping you? We have to move!" The sound of the stone smashing and the fire roaring almost drowned out her words.

"We can't just leave them! We need to go back!" Fone Bone wouldn't move. They had to go back and get… Where was he? Why was he here?

"We don't have a choice, they've already been caught! We need to get out before those troops circle back!" Thorn ran back to pick up Fone. The ground started to collapse behind them. "Shit!" She exclaimed. The two of them took off for their lives. The fire close on their heels, rocks smashing from every direction. Fone Bone glanced to his left and saw nothing but a sea of fire preceding a wall of blackness. He started running harder. They almost made it to what looked like an entrance when the ceiling gave way, and came crashing down on top of Thorn. Fone Bone turned around just in time to see the fire catch up to her and swallow her as the rock descended from above, crushing her. He cried out, leaping forward to try to pull her from her inevitable demise.

He sat up in the seat and hit his head on the ceiling of the car. "Damn." he whispered to himself. For the past couple of nights he had been having weird dreams. He and Thorn running down a hallway, arguing, everything on fire. She dies, and he isn't able to save her. It was more than just a coincidence. His time in the Valley taught him that dreams carried a certain significance. Something bad was about to happen, that he was sure of. And the more the days passed, the more he felt that whatever was going to happen would revolve once again around the Valley. He needed to go back. Make sure everything was ok. And if need be, help deal with whatever was heading their way. Because whatever was coming, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was the cause. He didn't know how, but they were in danger because of him. He could feel it. He didn't have time to think about it further, though, because now that he was awake, he needed to get moving.

He started the car again, and took off driving in the same direction that he had been. After leaving Argus City three days ago, he stopped off at Boneville and spent the night there chatting with distant friends, and in the morning two days ago left for the desert. Now he could almost make out the Dragon's Stair on the horizon. He didn't really know how he knew where to go, but ever since he left the Valley, there was this distinct emptiness to the air around him. as he went back to Boneville, that emptiness filled a little bit, and he just kept following that sensation until it lead him to the Valley. Maybe that was the dreaming? He didn't really know. He'd give it more thought when he knew that the Valley wasn't in eminent danger.

He approached the Dragon's Stair, slowly maneuvered his car up the rock face. When he arrived at the top, he parked his car and stepped out. What he saw took his breath away. For first time in five years he beheld the absolute beauty of the Valley. A sea of green tree tops stretched for miles, and in the distance he could see Barrlehaven and the smoke idly wafting from the tavern's chimney. He paused for a moment to take in the majesty of the sight before him.

After a while, he got back in his car and made his way down the path to the end of the pass. After reaching the end, he drove off in the direction of the tavern. The car sped forward without making a sound, and in no time at all Fone Bone was approaching the village outskirts. It occurred to him that the presence of a car would freak out some of the villagers, so he stopped, and getting out Fone locked the car back into stealth mode and started walking toward the village.

As he approached, Fone noticed that the sky was getting much lighter. He didn't know what time it was, but he decided to make as little noise as possible to avoid waking the villagers, and made his way straight for the tavern. He could hear the mild din of conversation and merriment coming from the other side of the door.

"Good." He muttered to himself. "That means that whatever's coming hasn't arrived yet." He paused as he realized he was talking to himself. "Or I'm just crazy." He sighed. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door. Initially, no one noticed him, which bolstered his confidence. Calmly, he strode towards the counter and took a seat. As he made his way toward the bar all of the conversations around the room slowly hushed. As the noise died down, Fone noticed that everyone was staring at him in silence. He had hoped to make his arrival as private as possible, but he paid them no mind. Most of them had known him or met him during his time in the Valley, so it was understandable that they would be mildly shocked at his return.

On his way to the bar, Fone saw Wendell working counter. He was having a very hushed discussion with Ted, who was perched in the end of his finger. As Fone approached, he caught the end of their conversation.

"I'm tellin' ya I saw somethin' movin' around out there in th' woods! It was big n' really fast, and headn' toward th' village!" Ted exclaimed.

"There's nothing out there that's going to attack us. We're in a time of peace. Maybe it was the dragon on his way to somewhere." Wendell replied.

"It wasn't no dragon, I can guarantee you that. There was no brimstone smell lingerin', and it didn't make a sound either. I was really freaky looking too. Like a big… Oh I don't know! I can't explain it! I've never seen nothin' like it before!"

"Excuse me, can I get some service over here?" Fone said as he took a seat.

"Be with you in a minute pal." Wendell said without turning around to look at Fone. "I think you're overreacting. But if you really think you saw something, go outside, find out what it was, and make sure that, if it does exist, it doesn't intend to cause any trouble." Ted leapt off his finger and left.

"I can tell you exactly what was travelling around outside. But I'll need a beer first." Fone remarked.

"Oh fine." Wendell, still without looking at Fone, poured a beer and placed it in front of him. Before he realized who Fone was he asked, "That'll be an egg."

"I don't have any eggs, but I'm pretty sure my credit's still good here." Fone said. Wendell finally recognized Fone, and stumbled back in surprise.

"Fone Bone? Bloody stars!" He shouted. He turned his attention to everyone staring at Fone. "Stop gawking." he said, "Let a man enjoy his drinks in peace." Reluctantly, everyone turned back to their meals and conversations. Wendell immediately started asking questions. "What are you doing back? Where are Phoney and Smiley? What did you say you could tell us about what's been moving around outside?"

"One question at a time Wendell." Fone said. He took a sip of his beer, and started answering. "The thing Ted saw moving around was me. Or rather, the vehicle I used to get here. I left it just outside of town, in the woods." He took another sip. "To answer your other question, I came back because I realized I didn't really belong anywhere else. Phoney and Smiley didn't need me anymore, so I had nothing to do back home. I tried writing about my travels to ease my mind, but that just made me miss this place even more. Eventually I realized I needed to come back."

"This is… Wow." Wendell ran his hands through his hair in disbelief. "What kind of vehicle was this?"

"It's called a car. It's sort of a cart that moves by burning a lot of oil rather than being pulled by cows. That's the best way I can explain it."

"Ok… I'm going to pretend that makes sense. This has been one strange night. Ted's going to be really happy to see you when he gets back."

"I'm sure he is."

"Hey, do you need somewhere to stay the night?" Wendell asked, not sure what to say to prolong the conversation.

"I hadn't planned that far ahead."

"Well, we've got some vacancies upstairs."

"Thanks. I suppose I'll take a room." Fone sat for a moment. "Not to be rude, Wendell but I'd like to finish my beer."

"Sure thing. We can talk more later." Wendell started attending to the other costumers that had since arrived, and Fone continued to drink his beer as he contemplated the magnitude of where he was sitting. He was back. And in a day or two, he would be back in Atheia. And he would see Thorn again.

Outside, Ted approached where Fone's car was parked. He scampered around for a few minutes, and when he found nothing, he hopped back to the tavern. When he saw Fone, he let out a joyous shout, and jumped right in front of him.

"Yer' back! Yer' back! Ohhhhh Thorn's gonna be so excited to see ya'! What's been happenin' back home Bone?"

"Oh, you might want to sit down for this one, figuratively speaking. They elected Phoney ruler of the whole country!"

"Why would they do that? Did he pull his old dragon slayer scam again?"

"Nope. He decided he was going to help people, and he got so popular they made him president."

"Your cousin. A decent person. You sure we're talkin' bout the same Phoney?"

"I'm sure. And that's not all…"

Fone ordered another drink and the two of them began swapping stories, laughing and catching up until late into the night. Outside, an antenna silently rose from an unassuming compartment in the side of the car's chassis. After clicking into place, a faint light on its tip blinked several times.

Back in Argus city, Archibald sat at his desk and finished his morning coffee. As he set the mug down, a light began to blink on one of the various screens in front of him. Casually, he pressed a small button in response. In the Valley, another compartment of the chassis began moving. A small section of the car's body just underneath the antenna slid away, and two dozen tiny eight-legged machines crawled out. Some sprouted wings after they reached the ground, others simply slinked away into the brush. After they had all gone, the antenna and the compartment both retracted back into the side of the car. Archibald reclined in his chair and lit a cigarette.

"Now to get to the bottom of this mystery. You can't hide your secrets from me forever, Dreaming…"

* * *

Jigafta Utenki snuck down a hallway in a black bodysuit. He had a black balaclava pulled over his face, with a hole cut in the middle to allow his nose through. He gripped twin silenced handguns, and had a knife strapped to his back just in case. As he made his way through the labyrinthine passageways of the facility, he felt a rush of adrenaline. He hadn't done any field work in decades, so having a chance to stretch his legs again after such a long wait gave him an intense rush. His elation was cut short, however, when a human guard rounded the corner in front of him.

As soon as he saw the guard, Jigafta rushed him. Before the guard knew what was happening, Jigafta jumped and slammed into his gut, knocking him into the opposite wall. Then Jigafta tripped one of his legs out from underneath him, sending him to the ground. As the guard's head passed him, Jigafta struck him in the temple, slamming his head into the ground even faster and rendering him unconscious.

Content with his work, Jigafta grabbed the guard's keycard and continued in the direction the guard had come from. Eventually, he ran into a solid steel door. It didn't have a handle or a lock that Jigafta could see, but there was a small keycard reader in the wall. Jigafta slid he guard's keycard through it, and the door shunted open. Inside was a large room filled, floor to ceiling, with databases and supercomputers. It was the central hub of a Rhumenese company's network.

Rhuma was a human country across the Wadral Sea from the Republic of Bone Territories. It was mountainous country on the Northeastern coast of the human mainland. Despite its terrain and lack of arable land, it was one of the world's leading superpowers thanks to its large military presence and large, cheap labor source exploited by foreign companies to manufacture their products. The company Jigafta had infiltrated was a private defense contractor responsible for advanced research in satellite technology.

As Jigafta walked around the network, he noticed a human technician crouched on the ground repairing one of the consoles. Jigafta approached him and put the barrel of his gun against the technician's head.

"Don't move." Jigafta spoke calmly. The technician froze up. "Don't speak. Don't stand up. This facility coordinates Rhumena's extensive satellite networks. I need you to shut them down."

"I can't." The technician replied tentatively.

"Pride will get you nowhere. And loyalty will get you killed." Jigafta shot the ground near the technician's foot with his other handgun. "I need you to shut down Rhumena's telecommunications."

"No, I mean I physically can't." The technician trembled. "They're programmed to reject changes to their operational status unless they receive clearance codes from the executives that I can't falsify. Short of setting off an EMP in orbit, there's nothing you can do to get them to shut down."

"Well then, you're of no use to me." Jigafta struck the technician on the back of the head, knocking him unconscious. After the technician fell to the ground, Jigafta began examining what he was working on. He had been operating a small touch screen mounted on one of the mainframe computers. On the screen was course data for a network of satellites labeled "thunderbird". Beside each satellite in the network, there was the option of editing their courses. Jigafta adjusted a few of the numbers for fun, but none of the changes seemed to stick. Then he noticed another option on the screen simply labeled "execute operation". Out of curiosity, Jigafta pressed it. Instead of adjusting the satellites courses, it pulled up a textbox that asked him to "input target location".

Confused, Jigafta rummaged around the unconscious technician's pockets until he found a cell phone. He turned it on and dialed the number of the Vice Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Satranik Haenkos.

"Hello, this is the Vice Chair's office. How may I help you?" A female secretary answered.

"I need to speak with the Admiral. Is she available?" Jigafta asked.

"She's not available for calls at the moment."

"Well, can you at least tell her Jigafta Utenki wants to speak with her?" The secretary didn't answer for a moment. Eventually, she spoke.

"I'll put you through now." She spoke much quieter. Jigafta waited for a moment before Admiral Haenkos answered the call.

"What is it, Jigafta?" She asked, partially annoyed and partially angry.

"I'm in the… Queshin Systems building in Rhumena, and I'm looking at something quite concerning."

"Wait, why are you at Queshin Systems? They maintain satellites."

"Well, I was planning on disabling the Rhumenese telecommunications network, but-"

"You were what!" Satranik shouted. "Why in the name of all that is holy were you trying to disable one of our ally's satellite networks?"

"You know me. I've got an itch to scratch, and figured this would be a way to start."

"I'm going to notify the Rhumenese military. Good luck fighting your way out of that."

"Wait. I didn't call to boast. I called because I think I've stumbled upon a network of Rhumenese satellite based weapons."

"Repeat that. Satellite based weapons?"

"Well, I'm not exactly sure. I'm going to try something out. If anything happens to Rhumena in the next ten minutes, it's probably my fault. On the plus side, you can start to prepare countermeasure after you see what it does. Assuming it does anything."

"Jigafta, what the hell are you talking abou-" Jigafta hung up the phone.

He turned his attention to the screen still awaiting a target location. He punched in the longitude and latitude for the Rhumenese capital city. The display read "calculating target area" for a moment, and then another message popped up with an "estimated effect radius" of 500 miles. That was enough square miles to hit all of Rhumena with whatever he was about to unleash. He was beginning to second guess himself until the text disappeared and a button that read "confirm target" appeared. Jigafta pressed it.

For a moment nothing happened. Then, without warning, the phone in Jigafta's hand began sparking. He tossed it aside in surprise, and then noticed that all of the lights had also shorted out, and the databases were offline. He got up and went to the door. The electronic lock had also gone offline.

"An EMP, huh?" He muttered to himself. He closed his eyes and took a long, deep breath. "It'll be enough to get me by." He opened his eyes and walked out the door.

* * *

Faldr Milzaek trudged ankle deep through the snow dressed in lightweight combat armor with a sword strapped to his back. Not that it bothered him much. He was born in the north, and never seemed to be bothered by freezing weather. He had been walking for over a day, slowly carving his way to Glaian's fortress through the frozen forest. The sun had set an hour prior, and as darkness settled over the landscape, Faldr began to make out the lights of Glaian's base of operations flickering in the distance.

"I'm stopping to make camp." He said into his earpiece, a small electronic device fitted snugly into the only slightly larger hole in the side of his head that was his inner ear. "I'll set out again just before dawn."

"Roger that." General Victor responded. He had volunteered to be Faldr's handler since they had worked together in the FIC for years.

Back in Argus City, Phoney, Daniel, Julius, and Victor all watched the progress of Faldr's tracker as he crossed the northern landscape on a digital map screen in their meeting room.

"I suppose all we can do now is wait." General Victor leaned back in his chair. "I'd recommend you all get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day."

"I agree. Thank you for everything you've done, General." Phoney began to walk toward the door when the Presidential Mansion Chief of Staff burst through it.

"Mr President! Mr. Chairman!" He shouted, panting, as if he had been running through the mansion frantically.

"What is it?" Phoney asked, slightly alarmed.

"The Vice Chair, Admiral Haenkos, called me a few minutes ago. There's something you need to see." He frantically began tapping keys on the tablet he was holding. The screen showing the map switched feeds to the national news. The female news anchor's voice flooded into the room.

"-now theorize that the strange Electromagnetic Pulse that knocked out all of Rhumena's electronics earlier this evening originated from outer space, raising suspicions among the world's governments that a nuclear device was involved. Many countries have already released statements denying the launch of any such weapons, but the possibility still remains that a rouge faction could have been responsible." She paused for a moment.

"Hold on, I'm getting a report. This just in: a large cache of surveillance data from various Rhumenese companies was dumped onto the web just before the EMP. In said data, Wadralian authorities found footage of a masked bone assailant tampering with satellite information prior to the EMP." A picture of a masked bone in a black outfit crouched next to some mainframes appeared on screen. He had a scar across his nose. "The Wadralian government has, as a result, begun considering the possibility that Glaian Nagratek could have initiated the attack as a means of instigating conflict." The Chief of Staff switched the feed back to the map.

"How sure are we that Glaian is involved somehow?" Phoney asked, his mood quickly turning somber.

"That wasn't one of Glaian's men." General Victor responded. "He had a scar across his nose. I would know that scar anywhere. That was Jigafta Utenki."

"So I guess the question now is: Why did Jigafta attack the Rhumenese? And is he really the ally we suppose he is?" Secretary Freeman began to postulate.

"I'll talk to Admiral Haenkos about it, see if she can shed any light on the situation." General Victor offered.

"It doesn't matter." Phoney shut down their planning session. "What matters right now is taking down Glaian. If Jigafta did this for the hell of it, then it isn't really our problem. And if he is on Glaian's side, we can deal with that after the duel tomorrow. Now if you'll all excuse me, I'm going to go get a few hours of sleep." Phoney left the room without another word. Everyone else stared at each other, slightly confused.

"Well, I suppose I'd better get some sleep too. I'll see you gentlemen in a few hours." Daniel Deyavara left the room and walked a short ways down the hall to the room the President had lent him to use for the duration of the situation. Hastily, he ripped off his suit and tie, and climbed into bed. As he was about to go to sleep, he noticed something glinting on his nightstand. He picked it up. Only then did he realize it was the blue crystal he had locked away.

"How did you get out here?" He muttered to himself as he examined it once again. He got out of bed and put the crystal back in the safe hidden in the floorboards underneath before it could do him any more harm. As he was closing the door, he noticed his consciousness begin to slip. He wasn't simply tired, the crystal was affecting him again. Frantically, he rummaged through the room looking for the briefcase to contact Jigafta. His thoughts slowed. His vision began to narrow. Just as he gripped the handle, his vision faded to black, and he collapsed on the floor unconscious.


	5. Chapter 4: Death Knell

Author's Note: As of June 27th, 2016, the entire fanfic has been rewritten. That means this chapter, all that came before it, and all that follow it now contain different content that they did previously. You are strongly encouraged to go back and reread the entire fanfic from the beginning, as the revised continuity may confuse you if you jump in part of the way through.

* * *

Faldr Milzaek stood near the edge of the tree line. To his right, the sun began to inch its way over the horizon, painting the sky a myriad of reds, oranges, and yellows. The imposing stone façade of the Norgabard, Glaian's mountain fortress, jutted out from the face of a cliff several hundred feet in front of him. It was an impressive feat of engineering, having been carved straight out of the rock face of the Yadrek Mountain Range just before the Wadralian invasion one thousand years ago. As Faldr was admiring the combination of tranquility and bellicosity, his earpiece crackled to life, and General Victor's voice once again filled his ears.

"Alright Faldr, you're just on the edge of what we've been calling the "blackout radius". Glaian somehow procured military grade communication's jammers, so we won't be able to talk to you after this point, though we will continue to monitor your progress via satellite surveillance. Glaian also happens to be in the middle of another one of his televised speeches at the moment, so you'll have a good audience for your duel."

"Thanks, Vic. When I get back, we really should go buy some drinks and catch up." Faldr remarked as he prepared himself for what he was about to do.

"I'm looking forward to it. I'll see you in a few hours. Good luck-." Faldr. Stepped forward. General Victor's voice cut out. He was on his own from this point forward. If he didn't play his cards right, there would be a massive civil war, and thousands upon thousands would die.

"No pressure." He laughed under his breath. As he was about to exit the tree line he felt the air move to his left. "Alright, come out. We've trained together, and fought each other too many times for me to not notice such an obvious maneuver." Out of the shadows to his left stepped former lieutenant Nibet Trenya, former terrorist, master assassin, X'lish's sister, and the sixth member of Faldr and Jigafta's team back when they all worked for the FIC.

"Faldr Milzaek. It's been awhile. Kept up your skills in retirement?" She mused. Her hair was longer than her sister's, and just as ebon. Her one distinguishing feature was her right eye. She had lost it in a raid against her former employers, a terrorist organization known as the Order of the Hollow Soul, after she joined the FIC, and had taken to wearing an eyepatch over the wound ever since. The eyepatch she currently wore was emblazoned with a purple and red eye.

"What the hell is this?" Faldr asked, more furious than surprised at his sister-in-law's sudden appearance. "You leave over a year ago, in the middle of the night, to hunt down any remaining members of the Order, and then you go completely dark. And now you're stalking me through the Northern forests on my way to kill Glaian Nagratek with the symbol of the Order proudly displayed on your eyepatch. Please tell me this isn't what I think it is."

"Who, easy there. I hate the Order, we both know that. The eyepatch just lets me blend in easier around here. And I didn't join Glaian's "crusade" if that's what you're implying. Well, technically I did, but that was just to get Glaian to trust me. As it turns out, Daniel has spent the last twenty-five years hunting down the people who funded the Order, with little success. Now that Glaian's popped up on the radar, he sent me to infiltrate it a year ago to dig up anything I can find. Given my past history with the Order, I had no trouble being accepted as one of them." She stepped forward. "Now here's the important part: If you kill Glaian now, I get nothing, and this problem doesn't go away." Faldr stared at her.

"I've got orders, directly from the President, that say Glaian needs to die today. And besides, the Order is gone Nibet. Kelkaid, Jigafta's brother, your father, they're all dead. At some point, you need to move past what happened with your eye."

"Oh like you're one to talk. We both know that bullshit about the President is just a pretense. You're only here to get revenge on the Nagrateks for the death of dear old daddy, regardless of whether or not Glaian is actually related to Kelkaid." They both stood in silence for a moment.

"If we sand here calling each other hypocrites all day, I'll miss my best chance for carving out Glaian's throat. Now if you'll step aside, I can get to work." Faldr tried to walk off toward the Norgabard.

"Wait!" Nibet shouted. She grabbed his arm to stop him from moving forward. In response, he grabbed a gun at his belt and whirled it around, aiming it at her face. The movement was enough to get her to back up and open her palms as a gesture of good will.

"Let. Go." He said, lacking any trace of emotion.

"I'm trying to help you." She said, more annoyed than concerned. She had never known Faldr to kill someone who hadn't had a hand in the death of his father. "I may be after information, but I want the prick dead as much as you do. I think there could be a way for us to both get what we want."

"Suppose I believe you. How will you help me take him down?" As he asked the question, Faldr's grip on the gun tightened. He lined up her head just to the left of the sights. If he made a move, she would instinctively dart right to avoid a bullet. It was a pattern he had picked up on as soon as they began training together.

"I'm assuming the President isn't a big enough idiot to send in an assassin, so you're probably here to duel Glaian. Correct?" Faldr nodded his head slightly. "Good. In that case, Glaian will want me to fight you. A subordinate against a subordinate. At some point during the fight, long enough in to make it look we're fighting for real, I'll expose my stance. That's when you sweep my legs and kill Glaian before he can react. When he's dead, I'll be next in line. As a disgraced warrior, I won't be able to lead our people into battle, and anyone who would wish to do so would have to kill you and me first."

"Will that work?"

"It's how the situation would have gone down regardless. I'm just giving you a heads up."

"I'll go along with this. For now." He holstered his gun. Breathing a small sigh of relief, she sunk back into the foliage and relayed her final message as she disappeared.

"I'll head back before Glaian notices I'm gone. Remember the instructions. This is our only chance. The fate of this continent and our only chance to get at who was really responsible for the Order's crimes rides on the outcome of this duel. Don't falter." She was gone. He started breathing easier. He used to be able to take her in a straight up fight no problem, but she had been active for a year, and he hadn't. He wasn't taking any chances, even if she claimed to be on his side.

He left the tree line and started making his way toward the fortress. The front entrance, a large set of arched wooden double doors, was deserted. Everyone must have been inside listening to Glaian's speech. Or they were so smug in their isolation they hadn't considered the possibility that they could be attacked. In either case, their stupidity made Faldr's job easier.

He pulled several small breaching charges from the pockets on his combat armor, and placed them around the doors. He backed up to get himself clear of the blast radius, and drew two knives from his belt. After he was suitably prepared, he detonated the charges. The door was shredded instantly. Immediately, Faldr charged in.

Meanwhile, Glaian stood, wearing the same cloak he always did when addressing his men, on a podium in the middle of a courtyard that was, in actuality, a cave before the Deyavara clan sliced the mountain face in two to build the Norgabard. As a result, it was somewhat circular in shape and had stands built around it so it could double as a colosseum for hosting ancient duels of honor. Before the door exploded, Glaian was in the middle of speaking to a crowd of his zealous followers, being filmed by several cameras a news station had anonymously donated them, and being broadcast all over the country via a hacked satellite feed.

"This so called government has taken "painstaking lengths" to make sure that our "traditionalist" brothers and sisters are treated fairly. But I ask you: What is fair about the continued, unspoken, and outright ignored persecution of our comrades in the west? Or the fact that renewed hostilities arose shortly after another member of the dreaded House of Bone rose to power as the new President? This is not inclusion, but a slow and painful return to the old ways, a gradual re-institution of treating those of us that refuse to spit on our heritage as second class citizens of a culturally dying people. And now our children worship stories of that glorify the exploits of humans! HUMANS! Our ancient enemy! They destroyed our ancestors by the thousands and paved the way for Argus the Betrayer to establish his poisonous legacy, and yet our children sing their praises as if they were some race of savior gods! They are a nest of vipers that we welcome to our shores with open arms and that our children's educators romanticize with fervor! We must drive these ideas from our people's minds and tear down the cursed House of Bone that erodes our sense of being and culture! We must purge this human plague from our households, our homelands, and our hearts! We must-" Glaian's frothing rant was cut short when the door across the courtyard from his exploded, sending a large crowd of his men flying.

As everyone in the courtyard, save for Glaian, reeled in shock, Faldr emerged from the smoke running at full speed. By the time anyone noticed he was going after their leader, he was practically within arm's reach of Glaian. He pointed one of his knifes at Glaian's face and began to speak.

"Sorry to interrupt you, oh great "All-Consuming"." Faldr smirked. "My name is Faldr Milzaek. President Phoncible has decided that enough is enough, and sent me here on his authority to challenge you to a duel by the old traditions. If I win, your group disbands and your sentiment is thrown into the wind. If I lose, the president will accept any terms you see fit to impress upon him to alleviate the troubles of your people." Glaian casually moved the knife aside with his index finger. He barely managed to keep his rage contained. His lieutenant, however, lacked such control

"You dare to enter our sanctuary, spit on our sacred laws, and then use them in the name of a false ruler to try and deceive-" The bone standing next to Glaian began to shout, but Glaian quickly cut him off with a wave of his hand.

"Izaroth, that's enough. I can handle this myself. Go join the others." He looked at his right hand man. Izaroth nodded in response.

"Of course, Lord Glaian. Whatever you require." With that, he left Glaian's side and took his place in the stands. Glaian turned back to face Faldr.

"You would have me give up my glorious quest to reassert our traditions and renew our people's pride because the President wishes it?"

"Actually, I want to fight you because I never got to properly pay your old man Kelkaid back for what he did to my dad. But when you lose, you're group has to leave. Never to take up arms again. I don't know about you, but I'd prefer we do this with some measure of honor."

"Your father? That's a rather trite motivation for vengeance, considering I was not involved in his demise. But I shall indulge your delusions nonetheless, for this is a perfect opportunity to demonstrate my cause's superiority."

"So. You'll fight?"

"Yes, vermin, I agree to your terms. But on one condition. Since the President has sent a warrior in his steed, I will do the same. You remember your former colleague, Nibet Trenya? She will be your opponent." Nibet stepped out of the shadows toward the back of the colosseum.

"Fine by me." Faldr could hardly contain his excitement. It was happening just as Nibet had said it would. Glaian retreated to a second set of wooden double doors, this one on the other side of the courtyard from the first. He made a hand gesture to someone at the top of the fortress, and the podium descended into the ground forming a flat base for the duel. Faldr and Nibet lined up on opposite sides of the ring facing each other.

"Begin." shouted someone serving as the ref. It occurred to Milzaek that this setup was way too quick for them to have not been notified ahead of time about his arrival, but before he could develop that thought further Nibet leapt at his throat with a forearm length blade. He caught her hand just before it slit his throat, but she instantly dropped her other arm and punched him in the gut. He caught that one too, and brought his knee up into her chest. She twisted away from it, forcing her hands out of his grip, but not before he wrenched the blade from her hands and brandished it as his own.

He slashed at her head from above. She darted to the right, as he knew she would, and he curved the arc of his sword to account. She ducked underneath his corrected attack, and caught his hand with her left as it passed over her. Springing back up, she attempted to kick him square in the face. He caught her foot and slammed it on the ground behind him, bringing the rest of her with it. As she traveled through the air, she pulled on the hand in her grip, spinning Faldr around in the process and knocking him off balance. He let go of her foot, and she let go of his fist. Both of them regained their footing and resumed the fight.

He darted toward her left knee cap. She grabbed for his arm. He slipped his foot between hers. She had given him an opening. He twisted his leg and she fell to the ground. Instead of killing her, he threw his blade straight for Glaian's face before he realized what was transpiring. Or so Faldr thought.

With a fluid motion, Glaian grabbed the blade with his hand inches away from his face. In Faldr's bewilderment, Nibet drew a second blade and plunged it deep into his stomach. His mind screaming with pain, Faldr watched in silent horror as Glaian turned towards the camera filming the fight. With his dying breath he tried to form the words "Fucking Traitor!" and spit them at Nibet. Unfortunately, all that came out was a low, indistinct guttural noise. With his vision and consciousness facing, Faldr Milzaek fell to the ground. The last words he heard were those of Glaian, Last of the Nagrateks, the All-Consuming:

"Brothers and sisters, this cowardly assassin sent by the treacherous House of Bone has just made an attempt on my life, violating countless laws of our heritage. This villainous act will not go unpunished. This violation of everything that snake Phoncible P. Bone claims to stand for will not go unreciprocated. This declaration of war will not go unanswered!"

* * *

Phoney couldn't believe his eyes as Faldr Milzaek fell on national television. He hadn't even considered the possibility that Faldr would lose.

"What just happened?" Secretary Freeman asked, unable to process what he was seeing. "What in the hell just happened?" Secretary Deyavara began violently shaking, borderline convulsing.

"Are you alright?" Phoney asked. "I know Glaian got us, but this reaction is a bit… extreme." As he worried about his advisor, Phoney recalled that Daniel had been acting off the entire day.

"I… It's… The…" He stammered. Suddenly he became much calmer. "It's nothing. I'm fine." He straightened himself back up.

"They knew he was coming." General Victor thought to himself aloud. Everyone in the room could hear him. "Everything from Nibet's convenient appearance to the podium and the ref. It was set up ahead of time. Which means someone tipped him off to our plan." He turned to face the other three people in the room. "Gentlemen, we have a traitor in our midst."

"Yes you do." Daniel chuckled. Suddenly he drew a handgun from his coat and stuck it in Phoney's face. "Reciprocation!" He shouted. A gun fired. Daniel's body crumpled. In the doorway stood Archibald holding a smoking handgun, a look of frantic terror on his face. As Daniel's body collapsed on the ground, Archibald breathed a sigh of relief.

"Please tell me you guys weren't just screwing around, and that I just shot the Secretary of State for an actual reason?" Archibald looked highly confused.

"Archiblad? Not that I really care, but what're you doing here?" Phoney asked, still processing that Daniel had tried to shoot him.

"Someone tried to breach our security systems a moment ago. I fought off the attack, of course, and then I traced it back to its origin point. It came from the Norgabard, so I rushed over here to tell you. Then I see Daniel aim a gun at your head, and I just sort of…" Archibald looked at the ground sheepishly.

"Well, Archibald, you did well." Phoney paused for a minute to let the events of the last two minutes catch up to him.

"Soooo…" Archibald looked around the room. "What exactly was happening in here?"

"We're at war." General Victor muttered solemnly. Secretary Freeman stayed silent.

"Pull yourselves together." Phoney began issuing orders. "General, I'm promoting you. You're now General of the Army, in charge of all of our armed forces. I need you to coordinate a nationwide defense against Glaian's incoming campaign. Julius, I need you to call Admiral Haenkos and tell her she's been promoted to Fleet Admiral and that she needs to mobilize the navy as soon as possible. If Glaian wants a war, then we'll give him a war."

* * *

Jigafta stood in front of the entrance to a cave. All around him was sand and rock. The crystal in his necklace began to glow. "Shard." Jigafta spoke into the darkness in front of him. "Are you there?"

"In a way." A voice floated out of the darkness. "I can send you my consciousness for a short time. What did you need?"

"It always freaks me out when you guys to that." Jigafta laughed.

"And you are so different?"

"I suppose not." Jigafta shrugged.

"In the past five years we have suffered two separate near-awakening incidents. Things are stirring."

"I know. That's why I'm here. We're about to get hit with a third. Very soon. And this one, if I can't stop it, it's going to have serious repercussions. It's time to put all of our time and effort to good use. I'm doing my best to prevent it on my end, but you need to tell Breshet to prepare for a worst, and I mean worst, case scenario."

"What exactly is going on over there? Last time we spoke, you said everything was going to be fine."

"Yeah, well the last time we spoke I was under the impression that we were both good at our jobs. But there's an active Nightmare Entity in play again, so-"

"That can't be right." The voice interrupted him. "They're all still trapped on my end, and there shouldn't be any more."

"I'm fully aware of the situation, but someone had to have activated the nightmare egg I was recently made aware of. Tell me someone other than a Nightmare Entity capable of such a feat."

"I can't, but we've accounted for them all. Expect for…"

"It's not possible. I killed him myself. I just… I need you to trust me. Get Breshet moving, and start prepping the Cipher. I've got to go."

"Not so fast." The voice stopped Jigafta from leaving. "I need to catch you up. A lot has happened in the Valley since the last time you were here, after all."


	6. Chapter 5: A Single Shot

Author's Note: As of June 27th, 2016, the entire fanfic has been rewritten. That means this chapter, all that came before it, and all that follow it now contain different content that they did previously. You are strongly encouraged to go back and reread the entire fanfic from the beginning, as the revised continuity may confuse you if you jump in part of the way through.

* * *

Fone walked through the caverns of Tanen Guard, retracing the path he took five years ago to the Crown. The air was thick with ash. Fire blazed at the edges of his vision. Everywhere he looked, the formless devourer ate at the landscape of the cavern. No. Not formless entirely. It was almost in the shape of a face, but he couldn't see who or what it belonged to. Despite the ash, he noticed that the floors were more slippery than usual. He looked down at his feet, and an elongated trail of blood stretched out in front of him and around the corner like a crooked smile. He followed it, and emerged in the main chamber, the housing of the Crown of Horns.

He walked up to the eldritch object, and noticed that something was amiss. He turned around him, and the entire cavern was littered with the dead and dying bodies of the human inhabitants of the valley. Wendell, Euclid, Gran'ma Ben, Taneal and her brother, the Venu monks, and Mermie and the dreaming masters all lay dead on the ground, blood running from their noses and burns on their bodies. Horrified, Fone turned back around to see Thorn, with blood trickling out of her nose, lying at the base of the Crown. He rushed over to her. She opened her eyes for a fleeting instant before closing them again. Before her breathing stopped, she uttered some words. They were laced with malice.

"You need to stop them, before they kill the entire dreaming and waking world. Make this right. Make what you did…" Her head fell against the stone. Fone leapt back, reeling in shock. Then he heard a crunching sound. He looked up at the Crown, and saw cracks forming along its entire length. Before he could make a sound, the Crown burst. For a brief instant, there was a flash of golden light. Then all of existence went black.

Fone Bone shot up in his bed, still trying to process what he had just seen. Flames, obscured faces in the flames, the Crown of Horns, everyone dead, all his fault. The dreams were getting worse, and now the Crown was involved somehow. Whatever was about to happen was worse than he thought. He looked out the window of his small, wooden room and realized it was a few hours after first light. He got out of bed, gathered his things, and went down stairs. Wendell was serving a sparse few customers at the counter.

"I've got to get going Wendell. I should really get to the capital as soon as possible." Fone headed for the door.

"I understand." Wendell chuckled. "You haven't seen her in five years, anyone can see that the separation's been eating away at you. Just make sure you get over there before she gets married off so some other guy." He winked.

"Wendell!" Fone's face went flush. "That is… not entirely why I came back here." He paused and turned to face Wendell. "I also needed to make sure the Valley was safe."

"Safe? How do you mean?"

"I've been having dreams. The Valley in flames, everyone dead. I learned a long time ago not to ignore the importance of dreams, so... I don't know for sure, but I have a feeling that something big and destructive is on its way. And if that's true, I don't want it to catch everyone off guard like the Locust did. If something is heading toward the Valley, everyone needs to be prepared."

"How can we prepare?" Wendell suddenly became concerned. Normally he would have laughed at this sort of superstition, but after the Locust, he became mush more accepting of Venu philosophy.

"Honestly I don't know. My best guess would be to keep watch on the mountains and pray nothing comes through. If something does, send Ted to get me. I'll bring help. Hopefully I'm just being needlessly cautious, but you never know."

"I'll keep it in mind. In the meantime safe travels."

"Thanks." Fone left the Barrelhaven Tavern and walked back to where he parked his car. He remotely started it, and climber into the cab. Driving off, he looked back at the town one last time. He got the feeling that, if he did nothing to prevent whatever great inferno was poised to strike the Valley, this would be the last time he would ever see the town again.

He drove for several more hours, going slower than in the desert to avoid the trees, before he finally found Tanen Guard. He opted to go around it. This took surprisingly less time than he thought. When he finally reached the other side, he felt that something was off. Someone was watching him. He looked in his rearview mirror and saw something most surprising and delightful. The Great Red Dragon. Fone instantly got out of his car and ran to meet his old friends and protector.

"Dragon! It's good to see you again! I didn't expect to find you. I thought you'd be in Deren Guard. But now that I think about it this is dragon territory too." Fone rambled. "Anyway how've you been?" The dragon didn't answer. He just stood in place, stoic, like a wall. "What's wrong?"

"Your beacon in the dreaming is undulating, like a pillar of fire. And not like that of a Veni-Yan-Cari. It seems to be pulsating toward you, instead of away from you. What yours is doing now takes the cake as the strangest one I've ever seen, and I have been around since before the Locust was here. I think the only explanation is that the Dreaming itself it attempting to communicate with you." The Great Red Dragon responded.

"Ok… Right out of the gate with the depressing conversation." Fone rubbed his hands together. "I suppose if that's what you want to talk about, I might as well get this out of the way. I've been having dreams. Of the valley being destroyed. Of the Crown of Horns being destroyed, and everyone dying. I think something bad is about to happen, and I came back to help prevent it. Or fix things when it does."

"…" The Great Red Dragon cocked his head to the side.

"What? Why are you being so silent? It's really freaking me out."

"Now I can't make out what it is you came here in. I've never seen anything like it before either."

"It's a car. It's like a cart but it runs itself. I swear I've been like a broken record these past couple of days."

"Like a what?"

"Never mind. Listen, I was heading over to the city to warn Thorn. Do you think you could talk to the council of dragons and tell them to be on high alert? Something is coming."

"I don't think the dreams of one outsider are going to be enough to get them to take any action."

"You said my beacon was like nothing you've ever seen, right? That has to mean something. They'll believe you. If I learned anything from you and from this place it's that dreams carry a significance that can't be overlooked. The dreaming is telling me something. I think the dragons should start listening too."

"Ok ok. Fair enough. It was good seeing you. If things are as you say, I doubt we have the time to catch up, but if and when this whole thing blows over, we should talk. For old times' sake."

"You know, I never remember us talking casually much."

"Well, maybe after… whatever you say is coming has passed, it would be a good time to start." He turned around. As he walked off into the distance, he shouted back. "By the way. She still hasn't gotten married yet, so you still have a chance. Just thought you might want to know." With that the dragon bounded back into Tanen Guard.

"Oh come off it already!" Fone shouted back at him as he disappeared over the ledge. With a sigh, Fone bone got back in his car and continued driving. He reached the city in no time. An hour from the burial ground of the dragons, he stoop at the cusp of the great city Atheia. He was one wall away. One wall from seeing her again. Out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw the glint of a metal ball. He blinked, and it was gone. Nothing. Just a trick of the light. But all of the wishful thinking in the world wouldn't wish away the probe that had followed him straight to the city.

* * *

"Send the 5th and 7th tank battalions back around to the western forests, and begin fueling up every available jet. I want every troop not keeping our borders secure or engaging pockets of Glaian's forces to converge around the northern half of the city and to start evacuating the civilians. Send the riverboats to cut off their supply lines back to the North along the Bone River, and then place the rest of them just south of the city along the Eastern Nagratek River. Put artillery pieces on the hills on either side of the northern gate and set up a kill box, but make sure the artillery is concealed."

Phoney, Julius, Victor, and several other generals were gathered around a large monitor in the Mansion's war room, while Archibald stood in the back of the room. Julius and Phoney watched in awe as Victor barked orders to his subordinates, who relayed messages and issued commands to their various divisions.

For the past few hours, they had received a myriad of reports that painted a very clear picture. Glaian's army had incited revolts across the western, northern, and eastern provinces, trying to fragment the military, while simultaneously marching a vast ground force straight for Argus City. As it stood, only the central and southern military forces were available to fight, so the army was scrambling to set up defenses and battlements to slow Glaian's advance and turn him back before his army breached the city perimeter. Even amidst the chaos, Victor had managed to construct an almost impregnable line of defense around the city. With Victor's help, Phoney was confident in their ability to repulse Glaian's attacking force and bring peace back to the nation.

"Sir!" Shouted a lower ranked officer as he ran up to the General. "I just received word from the Admiral. Her forces have managed to establish a beachhead on the Western Coast, and are slowly driving the enemy forced back."

"Finally, some good news today." Julius snorted.

"Lighten up." Phoney admonished him. "Sure, we may have lost our best field agent, my Secretary of State may have tried to kill me, and we might currently be preparing for an all-out war, but we will still come out on top."

"You do realize that, even if Victor somehow manages to pull off a miracle and defeat Glaian's army, and even if we restore order to what is, at the moment, an essentially lawless country, that this crisis has guaranteed the National Party victory in the mid-terms, and probably also killed your chances at a second run." Julius retorted.

"You're worried about re-election at a time like this?" Phoney was almost shocked.

"You're not?"

"I'm actually more worried about what happened in Rhumena yesterday. And I'm hoping Glaian wasn't involved."

"Well if he was, we'll probably know soon enough. One way or another." Julius muttered. Just then a radio somewhere in the room crackled to life.

"Sir!" Shouted the scout on the other end. "Glaian's army is coming into view!"

"Good." General Victor mused as he looked up from his thoughts. "He's a bit earlier than I anticipated, but at least now we can see what we're dealing with. Bring it up on the monitor."

An image flashed up on the big monitor on the far wall, and the entire room fell silent. The bones were an advanced civilization in the ways of war. They were the first of all of their neighbors from overseas to develop ballistics, steam engines, combustion engines, battleships, planes, tanks, jets, missiles, and atomic technology. But this was the first time any of the military experts in the room had seen anything like what Glaian's army possessed. Armored mechanized battle suits. Hulking forms with long arms and powerful three fingered graspers with guns in the grooves. Massive shoulder mounted machine guns and artillery cannons. Some even had ground to air and ground to ground missile attachments, and a few were sporting guns no one knew existed. There were around fifty in total, they looked strong enough to stop a tank shell without killing the pilot, and each had enough firepower to tear through an entire squadron in seconds. Nothing the Republic's had could stop all of them before they reached the city, and the navy still hadn't arrived.

"What are those things?" Shouted one of the various generals in the room. "Can we even put a dent in them?" Phoney instantly turned to Archibald.

"What have you got that can match something like that?" He asked. Archibald had, in just over a year in his position, developed dozens of prototypes for the military.

"Let's see…" He began pondering. "All of my new cloaking rigs were installed on the long range areal troop transports, so those are a no go, and tactical laser technology hasn't left the development phase… Oh, I know. My new plasma missile prototype. One plasma cascade and their fancy mechs will be piles of molten steel."

"Are you sure they'll work? They've never been field tested? What if they malfunction and explode over the city or our troops?" Retorted Julius. Everyone in the room was kept up to date with Archibald's latest military advances. It was one of the reasons he was hired in the first place.

"They'll work Mr. Secretary. You have my word. No conventional ballistics will pierce that armor, but my plasma missiles can rain substances on them so hot that the metal will melt around the pilot. Their army won't stand a chance. We only have a few dozen though, so you'll need to use them carefully."

"We can and will use every available asset provided to us. And I think Archibald here has more than proven himself trustworthy after he killed that spy Daniel." He turned to Victor. "General, how fast can you mount the new missiles on the artillery?"

"Just say the word." Victor responded enthusiastically.

"Do it." Phoney nodded. Victor turned to his subordinates.

"You heard the man. Get all available plasma armaments loaded and prepped for launch. As soon as they're in the killbox, we burn the whole area to the ground."

Everyone in the room waited, with bated breath, as the missiles were hurried out of storage and loaded up in the artillery cannons. The last one was locked into place just as Glaian's army entered the kill box.

"Fire." General Victor spoke into a microphone broadcasting to all the troops. He had to try to keep the glee out of his voice.

The missiles launched. Everyone watched the screen as the missiles flew toward their targets. Suddenly, as everyone in the room prepared to cry victory, the missiles all turned around in mid-air and locked onto the Republic's military emplacements. Before anyone realized it, the carefully hidden artillery emplacements the Republic had set up lie under a blanket of burning plasma, the tank battalions and the forest they were hiding in lay in ruin, and the grin on Archibald's face was made of pure, unadulterated, joyous evil.

As everyone's attention was focused on the disaster unfolding in front of them on screen, he pulled two guns from his belt and killed the secret servicemen guarding the room. Then he shot Victor. Then Julius. Then, one by one, he executed every single person in the room, save Phoney.

"Surprise surprise bitches." He said with a hint of disdain. Phoney stared at him, less and less shocked as time went by. He had gotten very good at accepting strange new situations.

"So Daniel wasn't the spy. He was the fall guy. To get us to trust you. To get us to use your weapons. So that you could destroy us from within." Phoney put all of the pieces together at once.

"Yup. Consider this my resignation." Archibald lined up his sights on Phoney's forehead and pulled the trigger before the president could react. A single shot rang out throughout the mansion. And then for a few minutes there was silence. The type of silence that only accompanies death. A cousin had died, and another was silently weeping.


	7. Chapter 6: Gaining and Loosing

Author's Note: As of June 27th, 2016, the entire fanfic has been rewritten. That means this chapter, all that came before it, and all that follow it now contain different content that they did previously. You are strongly encouraged to go back and reread the entire fanfic from the beginning, as the revised continuity may confuse you if you jump in part of the way through.

* * *

Fone was quite surprised at how little the outside of the city had recovered in the last five years. Almost the entire village outside of the walls was still destroyed, with only a few burnt out husks of some of the houses still standing. Fone parked his car inside one of the destroyed houses near the outskirts of the village, and walked the rest of the way to the city.

"Hey guard, you gonna let me in or what?" Fone Bone said as he approached the gate. The guard on the other side wore the robes of one of the Venu, but had his hood pulled back to show his face. He was a bit on the younger side, about eighteen or nineteen, and had short, light brown hair that reminded Fone of Johnathan Oaks.

"Scram!" The guard shouted through the bars of the gate. "You don't think that just anyone can waltz up here and…" As Fone neared the gate, the guard recognized his face. "Oh my. You're him aren't you? The one on the shrine?" The guard asked. He was very taken aback.

"Yup, that's me. Fone Bone. In the flesh." Fone said with a hint of pride. "You gonna let me in now, or do I have to explain why I'm here?"

"No sir. Sorry sir my mistake." The guard raised the gate, and Fone Bone started to walk off. "Wait." The guard spoke tentatively. Fone stopped "I'm sorry. It's just that… I didn't expect you to ever return. I mean… I was 13 when you helped Queen Thorn kill the Locust. You freed me from a ghost circle, but I never thought I'd ever get the chance to thank you."

"No thanks are necessary. I just need to see the Queen. I have a message for her. It's very urgent and I need to speak with her immediately."

"Of course sir. She's in the palace atop the hill overlooking the cliffs. You can't miss it." He pointed toward where the ruins of the old palace used to sit. Fone looked in the direction, and was surprised to see that, in the last five years, they had managed to completely rebuild the palace.

"Thank you..." Fone paused, realizing he didn't know the guard's name.

"Alex. My name's Alex, sir."

"Thank you Alex. You've been very helpful." As Fone started to walk off, he heard a new voice behind him.

"Alex, what are you doing?" Another Venu guard showed up, this one wearing his hood properly. "How many times do I have to tell you to always keep your hood on?" He turned and looked at the gate. "And close the gate before someone gets in!"

"It's alright officer." Fone admonished the guard as he placed himself in between Alex and the new arrival. "He just opened the gate to let me in. If you have a problem with that, you can take it up with the Queen."

"What gives you the authority to…?" The guard turned around to face Fone. "Bloody Stars! Fone Bone!" The guard threw his own hood off of his face. Underneath was Taneal's older brother who helped Fone and company into the city years ago.

"Taneal's brother! How's it been? You're a guard now?"

"Yeah." He rubbed the back of his head. "It occurs to me that I never told you my name. It's William."

"Well nice to meet you formally William. I'd love to stay and chat, but I've got to be heading on up to the palace to talk to the Queen. Try to be less hard on Alex here."

"Sure, whatever you say Fone Bone. It's just good to have you back with us. After your talk with the Queen, we should meet up in the market or something. This city has changed a great deal in the last five years, and you might need some help adjusting."

"I'll see what I can do. I might be in the palace awhile. Some stuff's going down, and I don't know when I'll be able to meet up. I'll tell you when I do." Fone made a strange gesture with his hand that was half wave and half salute before heading up the hill toward the palace. As he passed, people on the streets began to recognize him, and whispers spread like wildfire.

After a long, winding climb he reached the palace gates. In front of the gates was a large square, with a sizeable fountain in the middle and several carvings lining the sides. One of them was the carving Taneal had made in honor of Fone, which he stopped to admire for a few moments. After he paused to steel himself, he walked apprehensively through the gates and toward the palace itself.

* * *

"Gran'ma I'm twenty five, and more importantly I'm the Queen!" Thorn shouted as she paced back and forth in front of her throne. "I can make decisions for myself, and I have decided that I'm not going to be thinking about marriage at all until we get the rest of the kingdom restored. We still have to rebuild the village outside the walls or the bridge to Pawa. And furthermore I won't consider any sort of relationship with either of the Pawan Princes of them until they can prove that the actions of their predecessors do not reflect the current Pawan establishment's attitude towards the kingdom. That's my final word." She stopped and turned to face her advisors, the occupants of the room.

"Please Thorn, you have to reconsider. A strategic marriage at this stage could push public favor over the top enough to re-establish trade with the Pawans. Think about what that could do for the kingdom." Responded Gran'ma Ben. For the last five years she had been serving as the head of the Council of Nobles, and in charge of much of the day to day administration of the city itself.

"I agree with Thorn. The benefits to the kingdom are fleeting compared to the belligerence of the Pawans Ever since the war they have harbored deeply rooted ill will toward us. Letting one of them into the palace is asking for her to be killed." Retorted High Priestess Taneal. After the war ended, Taneal founded the Church of the Dragon, and was put in charge of restoring dragon worship throughout the kingdom.

"Of course you would side with the Queen. You don't want to see an heir produced because you feel it would violate her sanctity as a Dragon Saint." Jeered a small, portly man with a thin mustache. "The fact is that trade is drying up without access to the Pawan networks, and if we want to remain rulers of this valley, we have to make some compromises, not to mention we have to secure a viable heir as soon as possible."

"Know your place, Johansson!" Taneal spat back. "Your time as leader of the Merchant Houses under Tarsil's rule has warped your sense of perspective."

"Says the little girl, masquerading as someone important." Johansson scoffed.

"Enough!" A loud, deep voice boomed throughout the room. It belonged to Mermie, enhanced by her dreaming abilities. "I will not have this court turned into a circus over petty squabbling!" Everyone in the room looked at her, startled. After she calmed down and returned her voice to normal, she began speaking again.

"I also agree with Rose. We cannot afford any bad relations at this juncture." She turned to Thorn. "Your Majesty I implore you to consider at least an audience with the Princes. We need to re-cement our ties with Pawa. Any act of forgiveness will go a long way to restoring good faith in their people." Mermie was currently head of the Council of Dreams, and the last of the old dreaming masters still active. The rest had retired and lived quiet lives, keeping to themselves.

The last of Thorn's advisors, Sybron Brook, commander of the Venu forces, kept his opinion to himself. He had moved from his post at Old Man's Cave to the palace to ensure the Queen's safety, not to involve himself in court politics.

"Sir." One of his men quietly got his attention. "We have a… situation in the palace courtyard."

"Very well." He whispered back. "I'll handle it." He and the soldier left the room through the large set of wooden double doors that served as the entrance.

"That's enough, all of you." Thorn waved her hand and quieted the pleas of her advisors. "I will… consider Mermie's words. We do need to rebuild relations with the Pawans, but I will not go so far as marrying one of them. I-"

"Your Majesty." Sybron interjected as he poked his head back through the doors and into the throne room. "I hate to intrude on your conversation, but there is a creature here who claims to know you, and says that he needs to speak with you immediately."

"Claims my ass." Fone Bone shouted over the commander's shoulder. "Have you ever seen the carving in Queen's Square? Then you should know who I am. I'm Fone Bone, now let me in."

"I told you to back away from the-" Sybron turned back to hell at Fone some more.

"Commander, that's quite enough. Let him in." Said Queen Thorn as she stood up, a wild look of disbelief plastered on her face. "In fact, the meeting is adjourned. Gran'ma, clear my schedule for the rest for the day. Some business has just come up." The council of advisors left the room without another word. Reluctantly, Sybron swung the door open and made himself scares as well, revealing Fone Bone standing in the doorframe with a stupidly wild grin on his face. He stepped in and the door closed. Realizing he was smiling too much, he coughed and looked at the ground. Thorn stared at him for a moment trying to decide whether or not she was dreaming. He looked back up after composing himself, but before he could speak, Thorn jumped off of the throne and ran to meet him. When she arrived, she bent down on one knee and gave him the biggest hug of his life.

"I missed you a lot, you know." She said as she stood back up, "But why are you back? What happened?"

"Lots of stuff happened. Phoney got elected leader of the country," Thorn raised an eyebrow, "It happened, really. After we got back he had a change of heart, started helping out the poor, and before we knew it he was in the running for president. We moved to the big capital city, Argus City, and Smiley and Bartleby started helping out a local Bone Scout troop."

"A what?" Thorn asked.

"They're an organization that teaches young bones survival skills and stuff like that. Anyway I wrote a book series about our adventures in the valley, and it got really popular. I'm kind of like a local celebrity in Argus City now."

"So why did you come back?"

"Because I… felt I had to. Neither Phoney nor Smiley needed me to get them out of trouble anymore, and that had been the only thing I did since I can remember. I wrote, but eventually I didn't have anything more to write or occupy my time with. I felt like I didn't belong there anymore. I left part of me here when I went back to Boneville, and I guess I just felt called back by that piece of me I left behind."

"Truth be told I wished you came back every day since you left. It's just not the same without you around. Things have been really, really boring. I've just been doing all of this Queen stuff. Overseeing the rebuilding efforts. We only got the palace fully rebuilt last year, and most of the surrounding town is still in ruins."

The two of them walked over to one of the benches in the room. As Thorn sat down, she continued to talk, "We did have some trouble with a rouge dragon called the Nacht, but another group of Bones helped put things right in the end. From what I heard, a guy in a flying ship named Percival and two kids, Abbey and Barclay, along with a few other valley inhabitants managed to destroy him."

"Percival made it to the valley? He hadn't been back from his mission to find this place yet, so we all just assumed he died. I didn't really know him that well, but it's still good that he managed to make it here safe and sound. While we're on the subject, how was the Nacht causing you trouble, exactly?"

"Actually I was asleep for the entire thing. The Nacht put the whole valley to sleep. When their group defeated it, I woke up, but I never found them. I don't really give it much thought nowadays. If they wanted to be thanked, they would have shown themselves by now." She paused to stretch her arms. "It's been really stressful, and not having your calming presence here has been a real hassle. You always knew what was going on and how to fix things and what the best solution was and you always had that big, goofy, charming smile and… You had something that no one else had. I don't really know what it was, but it's really good to have you here again."

"Thanks. I'm glad to be back too, but, the thing is, there is one other reason I came back." Fone Bone's tone took a sharp turn toward the serious. "I have been having these dreams. The valley on fire, people dying left and right, the Crown of Horns breaking and the whole Valley being extinguished. Before I came here the first time, I didn't think anything of my dreams. But now, with all that we experienced, I think the dreaming might be trying to tell me something. So I came back to make sure everything was alright. But it looks like nothing's wrong, other than some internal discord, so it may have just been some stupid dreams. I don't know. Just be careful. I told the Great Red Dragon to alert the council of dragons as well, so hopefully if something bad does happen we can count on them."

"I can have Taneal talk to them. I named her High Priestess, in charge of all things dragon related. Interestingly enough, she also made us Dragon Saints, though I really have no idea what that actually means. If anything does happen, I'm sure we can deal with it. And if not, at least you came back. That's something good that came out of this whole situation at least. Come on, enough of this depressing talk, I'll take you for a tour of the palace, we can catch up more as we go."

"Ok." They got up and walked through the door on the right. As they began walking, Fone Bone felt and impressive sense of calm roll over him. He was back. No matter what happened, he was back in the Valley. With Thorn. And she called his smile charming. Instantly a warm feeling flooded his cheeks, and he pretended to be very interested in something which put his face out of her line of sight. Things were finally starting to feel normal again. He had finally gained back that fart of him he left in this valley all those years ago.

From the opposite end of the throne room, tiny, metallic eyes watched his every move.

* * *

"Yup. Consider this my resignation." Archibald lined up his sights on Phoney's forehead, and pulled the trigger before the president could react. A single shot rang out throughout the mansion. Blood dripped to the floor. Phoney shuddered. His eyes flickered open, and he thought he was dead. Strange, he had felt no pain. And then he realized the blood on the ground wasn't his. He looked up and saw the painful grimace Smiley's face as he leaned over Phoney, directly in front of the path of the bullet. He had shielded Phoney from the shot.

"Hey cuz, did you forget everythin I taught ya? First rule of fighting: you gotta get yourself a shield." Smiley coughed up blood and collapsed on the floor. Rage ran across Archibald's face as he lined up another shot. Before he could react, Bartleby bounded in from the hallway and bit off the hand holding the gun.

"Shit!" He swore clutching his stump of a wrist. He pulled another gun and fired a few poorly aimed shots at the rat creature. They all missed, but it gave him enough time to escape down the hallway. Bartleby didn't follow him, but instead ran up to where Phoney was holding Smiley.

"Don't leave! Come on you have to make it! Stay with me! Someone get help! Help!" Phoney was screaming.

"It's ok cuz." Said Smiley faintly, "Don't waste your breath. I'm done for. There's no helpin me. We were in the other room when we heard the shots. Came as quick as we could. Made it just in time too. Any later and you might be dead. Can't have my cousin dyin on me." Smiley coughed up more blood. Bartleby started to whine and nudged his head under Smiley's hand. "Hey bud. You take care of Phoney now, ok? Make sure he doesn't get himself into any more trouble."

"Of course Smiley." Bartleby started to cry. Smiley weakly pulled his head into his chest and stroked it softly. He turned back to Phoney.

"You make them pay. For what they did to me, to our friends, to the city, and to the nation. You make them pay, you hear?"

"No, Smiley man don't go. You gotta stay. You're the only family I got left. I need you man. We need you, don't walk out on us like this. Come on! Don't die on me now, not after everything we lived through!" Smiley started heaving. He didn't have tears left to cry, those had dried up years ago when he saw his parents killed in an explosion, when he learned of the harshness of the world. But here, alone and vulnerable, he grieved for his cousin all the same.

"Its ok cuz. You don't need me anymore. I'm sorry I wasn't more helpful to everybody. I got in the way most of the time. I was a klutz. I didn't understand anything. I messed stuff up. But at least I can die having done something worth dying for."

"You've got nothing to be sorry for. I'm sorry. For everything I ever did to you. I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm so sorry!" He started crying then. No more act. No more tough front. All of that washed away in the river of tears streaming from his face. Eventually the secret service found him there, clutching his dead cousin.

"Sir, we need to get you out of here." No response.

"Sir." Nothing

"Sir. We need to leave. They are storming the city. We only have minutes to get you to a helicopter to safety." Eventually the words of the officer got through to him. He laid Smiley's body across Bartleby's back, and together the two of them followed the officers onto the roof, where a helicopter was waiting. They boarded it, and took off into the sky towards the south. He looked out upon the burning city one last time. His Vice President was on a video screen in front of him.

"It's bad Mr. President. We lost the whole city, and most of the north and east as well. We might just lose this war too." The president considered these words for a moment, and then responded.

"We lost a lot more than a war today Zachary. I lost a lot more." Phoney thought he had nothing left to lose as they flew away from that carnage.

He was wrong.


	8. Chapter 7: Council

Author's Note: As of June 27th, 2016, the entire fanfic has been rewritten. That means this chapter, all that came before it, and all that follow it now contain different content that they did previously. You are strongly encouraged to go back and reread the entire fanfic from the beginning, as the revised continuity may confuse you if you jump in part of the way through.

* * *

"Ever since Glaian's forces took the capital, we have had minimal real contact with any of our forces outside the southern provinces. According to our latest intelligence reports, however, the eastern divisions were lightly garrisoned and completely overwhelmed, most of the northern forces revolted along with Glaian's army, and the western army is fighting a losing battle trying to hold onto the coastline with the help of what remains of the navy. Most of our birds are smashed, all of the central forces are gone, and the government has taken heavy losses. We evacuated the congress to the south after the revolts, but revolutionaries hit their convoy hard. Only fourteen of the fifty senators and twenty-three of the 276 representatives made it to the safe house. We lost seven of the nine justices when their plane was sabotaged, and the remaining two are in Glaian's custody awaiting public execution. The cabinet and the rest of the executive branch as well as all of the top army generals and one admiral were killed by a team of traitors in the presidential mansion led by chief science officer Archibald Bone. Outside of the south, every government worker is being rounded up in a massive witch hunt and killed on sight. From county to city to province employees, no one is being overlooked. They aim to cut the head off the snake and take out our entire government before we can evacuate anyone off of the continent, and with the remains of our navy fighting rebel ships or in Wadralian territory trying to muster support, an evac isn't likely. We're sitting ducks out here. One raid and his army achieves total control of the entire country." Vice president Zachary Holdsten delivered his report to the president.

Zachary, Phoney, and the last remaining member of the cabinet, Aaron Findrel, all stood inside a small tent on a military base in the southernmost province, the area least affected by Glaian's attack.

"We can't give up yet." Replied President Phoney. His face had gained a sour grimace ever since the capital fell. "We've still got some fight left in us. Spread the remaining members of the government across the provinces we still have in our control. If he wants us dead, he'll have to hunt us down individually. Then we use General Victor's contingency plan Aegis Vector 34-7, one I asked him to design specifically if we reached this point in the conflict."

"Are you sure that will work? What even is it?"

"In the event that the capital falls, we set up hidden artillery placements along the walls of the canyons in the center of the province, and put as many troops as we can on standby to spring an ambush. We have a series of dummy abandoned army camps set up in their path, and we lead them to think we've stashed our reserve supplies for the army in the canyons. We lead them in, and slaughter them with any and all means available. It's the best strategy we have."

"We don't have the resources to fight them. They have mechs! We can't fight that! I say we negotiate for our surrender. That way we at least come out of this alive." Said Secretary of Homeland Security Aaron Findrel. He survived the attack on the capital only because he had been the designated survivor, and was moved to a bunker in the south as soon as the situation began to deteriorate.

"We don't have to win against their army, we just have to stall them. Give ourselves enough time to get a small team into their head compound and kill all of their top members."

"And who do you propose we send on this mission? Faldr Milzaek is dead, Nibet Trenya is a traitor, Victor is dead, Admiral Haenkos is busy trying to hold the Western Coast, and the last two remaining agents capable of something like that were exiled decades ago."

"I have a way to contact them. I'm sure that, as soon as I explain the situation, they'll be more than willing to assist in hunting down Glaian and ending him."

"That won't be necessary." Said a male voice behind the three. They all turned around to see Jigafta and X'lish, dressed in full stealth gear, standing just inside the entrance to the tent. "We've been making our way here since Faldr died."

"You're faster than I expected." Remarked Phoney. "I assume you're here to help me take out Glaian?"

"We're here to take Nibet's life." Said X'lish, "Sister and comrade or not, she killed my husband and violated his honor. I would like the pleasure of repaying her in kind."

"She was consigned to death the moment her blade entered his gut. No. The moment she pledged herself to that abominable excuse for a living organism. If you can get us into his compound to get to her, we'll kill whoever you want." Said Jigafta. The rage burning behind their eyes was palpable, and made Aaron sweat with just a glance.

"Well then I guess I can see no reason why we can't greenlight this mission. I'll have a team begin preparing a bird and jump kits for two immediately, unless you'll be bringing backup." The Secretary gulped.

"They will be, Secretary Findrel." Phoney corrected as he and the assassins headed for the door.

"Who else have you assigned for this mission? I would like to know who we're sending, at least to make sure they're competent enough to carry out the assigned task." Phoney stopped. He turned and looked Secretary Findrel in the eye. Suddenly all of the accumulated rage in Phoney's soul leapt forth at that moment.

"The third man is me, Secretary Findrel! Archibald killed my cousin! And I'm going to make him suffer for it! I'll but a bullet in his testicles for every second Smiley endured that pain, and then I'll shoot him in the gut and let him feel the life ebb out of him as my cousin did!" The Secretary was quite shocked by the outburst.

"Mr. President! I cannot allow this course of action to continue! You aren't thinking straight. I know you lost your cousin, but we cannot send you into an active war zone!" Findrel started shaking in fear of the president, and backed up a few steps out of swinging distance.

"You don't have a say in the matter anymore. Marshall Law is now in effect. Which means, until this matter is over and put to rest, I order you and Vice President Zachary to remain here and oversee the troops. And to not question my actions. In the event of my capture, my power moves to the Vice President until my release, assuming I get one." Without another word, the three left the room and walked to the other side of the camp to one of Archibald's experimental stealth dropships, a variant of the Wadralian V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, that was being fueled up.

"I'll catch up. There's something I've got to check first." Jigafta broke from the group and walked over to another one of the tents. As Phoney was about to board, Bartleby bounded up to him. Anticipating his intentions, Phoney pulled Bartleby aside as X'lish boarded the craft.

"You can't go with me Bart. It's too dangerous. I'm not losing another family member to this war." Rage ran across Bartleby's face. All of the worldly knowledge Bartleby had gained in the past five years was dwarfed by the stoic tone now present in his voice over the last five days.

"Phoncible P. Bone, if you think I give a damn about living or dying anymore, you are gravely mistaken. Smiley was my best friend, my only friend, the only one who has ever taken care of me or given a damn about anything in my life. And I'll walk all the way to the northern mountains if I have to, but I will avenge his death."

"Of course you would. You'd probably find a way on board whether I allow it or not." Phoney contemplated the matter for a moment, "Fine. Get on. I'll grab another parachute." Bartleby bounded up the ramp as Phoney walked over to the equipment rack and grabbed the biggest jump kit he could find.

Jigafta, meanwhile, ducked conspicuously through the entrance of one of the tents in the camp. Inside were dozens of body bags on tables, each labeled: Smiley Bone, Julius Freeman, Victor Bone, and so on. After a minute of searching, Jigafta found the one labeled Daniel Deyavara. He opened it up and searched through Daniel's pockets. Eventually, he fished out the blue crystal. It has grown several shades darker than when Daniel possessed it. He held it up and closed his eyes for a few moments.

"Damn, it's empty." He muttered as he opened his eyes again. He threw the crystal on the ground and crushed it beneath his foot. "Well, at least it won't be a problem anymore." He left the tent and boarded the dropship. Everyone else was already on board, Phoney and X"lish in their seats, and Bartleby curled up on the floor staring blankly at a wall. Jigafta sat down in the cockpit, relieving the pilot of his duties, and began prepping the craft for takeoff.

After several minutes of heavy silence, Bartleby began speaking.

"Look at us." He said. "We're creatures of revenge now, Phoney. Nothing left to live for after this. Do you think Smiley would have wanted that?"

"I think…" Phoney considered his response very carefully. "Smiley wanted a lot of things for the three of us. But a life of hate was certainly not on that list. Maybe after this, after we put this behind us, we could try to learn to live normally again."

"Nothing will ever be normal again. In a week, those murderers took everything from us. Now all that's left it to reciprocate the act. If you think you have a way that we can still live normally after that, by all means tell me."

"I'm still working on that part, Bart. For now though, we have a traitor to slay." As the ramp began to close and the dropship began lifting into the air, Phoney could see soldiers arrayed below him, marching off in small groups to go slow down the enemy advance. For a moment he thought of how many soldiers he would sacrifice for petty revenge. And then he thought that maybe he hadn't learned anything after all.

_No_. Said a voice in his head. _You have changed. You're going to end this war, and make all of those lives count_. It was Smiley's voice. Even after his death, he still hadn't given up on Phoney. So Phoney decided not to give up on him, or his dreams. Phoney would become a better person, and earn the respect Smiley had for him these last five years.

It was more than three hours to the landing site. Plenty of time to think. Plenty of time to regret. Phoney always hated long trips. In the back of his mind, he thought his could hear Smiley playing his old guitar, laughing and smiling and passing the time as they traveled back across the desert on that ox cart. Maybe after it was all over, Phoney would learn to play. But for now though, all that mattered was Archibald.

* * *

"It is simply out of the question! We cannot allow our meeting with the Pawan dignitaries to be spoiled by a creature of his caliber! He does not understand our customs and in his presence you make irrational decisions!" Thorn stared blankly ahead as Johansson barked at the top of his lungs. "All this week you have missed meeting after meeting while you two have been gallivanting around the royal palace with no care for your duties whatsoever, to the point where The High Priestess and your own mother moved their pilgrimage to Deren Guard ahead by two months because there was nothing they could do here. This gala tonight will be the culmination of everything you have worked for as a Queen, and I will not allow his presence to ruin the most important day for Atheian-Pawan in history!" It was at this moment that Fone Bone walked into the room and into the conversation.

"You won't allow what exactly?" He said as the guild master was catching his breath in preparation for another blast of anger. Johansson whirled around in a fit of rage.

"You! How dare you intrude on her majesty's court unannounced! I tire of your blatant disregard for our people's customs!"

"I'm not here to debate whether or not I respect your people's way of doing things," Fone retorted. "But you need to understand something. This kingdom is exactly that, a kingdom. She has final say in everything that takes place. As I understand you are a more obstinate fellow that you were under Tarsil, but you need to get your head on straight. You have absolutely zero job security. With one word Thorn could have you stripped of your title and have an equally competent but less stubborn guild master put in you place. So next time you want to contradict what she says, just think about how much fun it would be to have your profession changed to beggar."

"You insolent little-"

"As an aside, who in this room has entered a ghost circle of their own power and survived?" He raised his hand, and, struggling to hold back her grin, Thorn did the same.

"Or entered Tanen Guard and survived?" Their hands stayed up.

"Or killed the Lord of the Locust?" Johansson looked as if her were about to burst. "Remind me again who's insolent here?" Fone stood for a moment, awaiting an answer. Johansson fumed, but got the message. He didn't reply, but his face contorted like that of a caged animal. "I take my leave." Fone Bone said, as he put his hand back down, bowed in an overdramatic fashion, and walked back out of the room.

"Do you have anything else to say, guild master?" Asked Thorn, still barely containing the laughter that had been building up inside her.

"No, your majesty." He said, defeated and humiliated.

"You may go." Johansson walked off, eyes downcast, while he mumbled to himself about how he was going to get Fone eventually. After a few minutes, Thorn decided no other business would present itself, and walked back to her room, which was just to the right of the throne room. She undid her hair and removed her tight, restricting clothing in favor of some robes that allowed a little more dexterous movement. With that done, she walked out onto the balcony and hoisted herself up onto the bannister. From there, she clambered onto the rooftop and made her way to where she and Fone had begun meeting in the last week to talk in private, away from prying ears. He was there, staring up at the sky, waiting for her, like he always was. He noticed she had arrived, and sat up.

"The nerve of that guy." he said, "I still can't believe people are still dogging you like you're some kid after five years on the throne. You'd think they would've learned by now that you can make decisions for yourself." She sat down beside him.

"I don't know if it's that simple. Most of my reign has been picking up pieces, convincing people that I wasn't some big mistake, working out how to put things back to normal. I've had to rely on a lot of help for that, and I guess the guild master has gotten too used to having that kind of say in my decisions. Thanks for setting him straight, though wasn't your approach a bit…" She paused mid-sentence searching for the word.

"Rash?" Fone Bone completed her thought. A small smile began to grow on her lips. "Well that guy didn't know jack." After a few seconds of silence, they both burst out laughing.

"You know," she said, "Having you here has made that last week more fun that the last five years. Hell, with you here I might even make it through the party tonight."

"Right the party… What's up with that anyway?"

"Our relationship with the Pawans is still shaky at best. Most of our merchants have refused to trade with them, and some of our citizens have boycotted the rebuilding of the bridge. The damage done in the last war was really bad. So we're hosting a gala tonight in the Pawans' honor, and their two ruling princes will be attending. And it is at this meeting that the royal court, most of it anyway, wants me to choose a suitor from the two." With this last line, Fone turned slightly to the side to avoid Thorn reading his emotions.

"Damn." He muttered under his breath. Thorn didn't notice.

"Of course I probably won't be. Marriage is about the furthest thing from my mind right now. Besides they're both total idiots." Fone breathed an almost inaudible sigh of relief. "But, suitors or not, I still have to go to yet another bland, drab exercise in pointlessness and social etiquette. And to think six years ago my biggest stressor was milking cows."

"I don't know, a party doesn't sound all bad. I mean there'll be food and music and dancing and laughter and…" Fone Bone started to try to cheer her up.

"These aren't like the celebrations we had back on the farm. They're lifeless, soulless. Like all of the vigor has been sucked out of every person in the room, and the only reason they're there is because they feel that they have to be. The music is dull, the food uninteresting, and the faces stoic and unfeeling. They don't even dance."

"Well we'll have to change that. From now on, no one holds a party in this palace without some fun in it. And I've got just the thing too. I brought some of my old records, I could set up a player near the entrance and set the mood to… Hey!" Thorn had nodded off in mock sleep. "I haven't even mentioned Moby Dick since I got back, the least you could do is stay awake when I talk about something else." She opened one of her eyes, and they both started laughing again.

"It almost feels like were back on the farm, doesn't it Fone Bone."

"Almost. And someday, when all of this political juggling is over, maybe we can go back. Remember things as they used to be."

"Someday? I didn't think you were planning to stay that long. I thought you had just come by to make sure we were ok. Half of me keeps thinking I'll wake up one morning and you'd be back on that horizon, leaving me again."

"I wasn't planning on leaving. If I'm going to spend the rest of my life somewhere, it might as well be somewhere I fell at home, and that sure as hell wasn't Argus City. I'm here to stay. What, it that a problem?"

"No! Hell no. It's just… I was scared to hope that you'd come back. You made your choice, and left, and that was fine, and I dealt with it. But now you're back, and I'm scared even more because I don't want you to leave again. The first time was hard enough, having you here again and then loosing you… I don't know if I could deal with that." She turned away from him, the glisten of newborn tears in the corners of her eyes.

"Hey," He said, gently turning her face back toward his, "I'm not going anywhere. I promise. This time I won't leave you. I promise." His fingers felt warm against her face. Soft. Like the caress of the sun as it lowers over the distant mountains.

"Crap." She said, breaking the depth of the moment like a sledgehammer.

"What."

"The party is in an hour! I've got to go get ready." She shot up, and walked back to her balcony. "See you at the party!" She shouted back at him as he climbed down his own pathway, "Don't forget the mood-setter you promised to bring."

"I won't. See you in an hour." They both climbed back down their opposite sides, and she began preparing her outfit and reassuring herself of the speech she had planned while he frantically ran to his car to retrieve the record player, and hope he brought an extension cord long enough to use it. The whole way he thought about the connection they had shared on the roof. That spark between them. Maybe she had felt it too. Thinking about it gave him a renewed burst of energy, and he ran off out the door. As he reached his car, so did tiny, invisible metallic eyes, ready to report back all they had seen. Ready to report back the secrets of Tanen Guard.

* * *

Lorimar, one of the last of the First-Folk, and envoy of her dying people to the Dragon Council, stood in the innermost chamber of Deren Guard. Sitting around her in their stone basins were the three members of the Dragon Council. They were in the middle of an argument, and Lorimar felt uneasy in their presence. One flare of temper from one of them could burn her to a crisp in second. Her people lacked bodies of their own, and transferred their souls between objects molded into a humanoid shape when they strayed from the inner depths of the Dreaming. Her preference had always been plants, and as a result stood among three dangerous fire breathing beasts cloaked in a form made entirely out of shrubs, vines, and small branches.

"Do you think his dreams hold any water?" Asked Korin, leader of the Dragon Council. "I personally do not consider them compelling enough to send out our most devoted worshiper to fetch him as soon as she arrives, especially during a time when she should be kept close at hand."

"I've seen his beacon myself. I can attest that the Crown, and Mon'Yaran, are trying to tell him something. He feels threatened. This is the third incident in the last six years. I think the time is upon us." Said a second dragon named Quimrath.

"If Mon'Yaran is really communicating to this extent, then the Crystal Councilman is not far from being free. The Locust and the Nacht were but mere proxy instigators to destabilize his prison in the desert." The third member of the Dragon Council, Vokelle, turned to Lorimar. "Perhaps you could commune with the Crown, glean some knowledge of what is to come."

"I already have." Lorimar responded, glad to finally be recognized in the conversation. "He remains silent. It appears that the expansion weighs heavy on his soul. Whatever the black eyes are planning, he cannot see it. But at least the process is going smoothly. Soon the black eyes will be opened once more, and the Crystal Councilman will lack the fuel to reopen his minions' gates."

"And should they reach the Valley before that happens?" Asked Korin.

"Then we will have to deal with the Awakened Council's return. But that outcome may be preferable since it will allow us to expose the last vestiges of opposition to the everlasting dream."

"And what of the Great Red Dragon? Since his initial report, we have kept him in the dark, but even he must be feeling Mon'Yaran's soul at work. We cannot hide this forever."

"I will deal with the black eyes' sympathizer. You three make the final preparations. They have discovered the tomb. It is only a matter of time before they release the Crystal Councilman. And then the race against time will begin."


	9. Chapter 8: The Fall

Author's Note: As of June 27th, 2016, the entire fanfic has been rewritten. That means this chapter, all that came before it, and all that follow it now contain different content that they did previously. You are strongly encouraged to go back and reread the entire fanfic from the beginning, as the revised continuity may confuse you if you jump in part of the way through.

* * *

Sunlight glistened off the surface of the snow as the dropship touched down amidst the frozen crags of the Yadrek Mountain Range. The ramp opened, and Phoney, X'lish, Jigafta, and Bartleby emerged into the glacial landscape. They walked in silence for several hundred feet, until the rock in front of them dropped off, forming a massive cliff face. Below them was the silent vigil of the Norgabard.

"I've never done anything like this before." Phoney said to Jigafta as the three looked over the edge of the cliff.

"Don't worry." Jigafta patted Phoney on the back. "It's only a three hundred foot drop."

"That isn't very reassuring."

"Well, neither are our odds of survival after we make this descent, so just think of this as the easy part."

"There!" X"lish shouted as she pointed at a lone lookout tower partially merged with the Cliffside that rose above the rest of the fortress. "That's our target." The other two made their way over to where she was standing. The three bones all drove rope anchors into the rock near the edge of the cliff, and clipped the other ends of the ropes onto the belts of the tactical harnesses they all wore.

"Here goes nothing." Phoney whispered to himself. He turned to Bartleby. "Are you sure you can make your way down without our help?" He asked.

"I'll manage, somehow." Bartleby responded.

"The drop levels out more the further away from the fortress you go." Jigafta told the rat creature. He also handed him a large satchel bag, which Bartleby grabbed in his teeth. "Make sure to keep these safe too." The rat creature nodded and bounded off along the cliff's edge to look for a way down. The bones, meanwhile, began their descent.

Jigafta went down first. Once he made it to the lookout tower, X'lish and Phoney watched as he took down a pair of guards. Then he gave them a thumbs up, and they rappelled down after him. Shortly after they made it to the tower, Bartleby launched himself through the air from a small rock outcropping and landed gracefully on the tower in the middle of the three bones.

"Now what?" Phoney asked as the four of them began descending a large spiral staircase from the tower to the rest of the complex.

"Now, we make our way to the center of the fortress. There are a few rooms inside the cliff itself. I'm willing to bet Glaian is in either the meeting hall or the throne room, since they were built the furthest into the cliff."

"You talk like you helped build this place." Phoney remarked as they exited the stairwell into a stone corridor. Jigafta didn't respond. Instead, he took the lead, pushing past Phoney and Bartleby.

"No one actually knows what he did before he joined the FIC." X'lish whispered to Phoney as Jigafta led them down a series of winding hallways. "There used to be rumors floating around that he was over seventy years old, because of how young he looks, but I just think he has a very large plastic surgery bill."

"Quiet." Jigafta hissed through his teeth. He swiftly crouched. X'lish squeezed past Phoney and did the same.

"What's going on?" She asked, her words barely audible.

"Two guards. That room." Jigafta pointed to an opening in the wall just in front of them. "Take the one on the left."

"Got it." X'lish nodded. The two of them rushed into the room and broke the two guards' necks before they could react.

"Clear." Jigafta hissed out the doorway. Phoney followed them in, while Bartleby stayed in the hallway. The room itself was fairly large, and contained several filing cabinets. The three looked at each other for a moment, and then immediately began going through them.

"These look like shipping manifests." X'lish remarked as she pulled one file after another from the cabinet in front of her. "Bulk mechanical parts, ammo, weapons…" She paused.

"What?" Phoney asked as he began to open his first file.

"Tanks. Glaian has tanks. And Armored Personnel Carriers. And dropships. This isn't just a widespread insurrection, it's a fully funded army. And it looks like it was all moved around by some company called "Export Systems International". I've never heard of it."

"My old friend Silas Cohen partially owns that company." Phoney said as he began digging through more files. "Maybe after this, we can pay him a visit, see if he knows who's backing Glaian's army."

"If he's still alive." Jigafta remarked. "There's no telling who Glaian's army has targeted. If he knows something, he might already be dead."

"That is probably the least of our problems right now." Phoney's hands started shaking as he read the contents of the file in front of him. "These parts were all things Archibald requested when he designed our military prototypes. Specifically the plasma missiles and stealth drives. Glaian could have a hundred, no, a thousand of these in play. He could hit us anywhere, at any time."

"Well, that's why we're going to kill him." Jigafta took the file from Phoney's hands. "When we get back to the ship, we'll radio your camp and let them know."

"Why do you care so much?" Phoney asked abruptly. "I know X'lish is here to avenge her husband, but why are you here?"

"I have my reasons." Jigafta responded as he headed for the doorway.

"Would one of those reasons happen to be named Kelkaid Nagratek?" Jigafta stopped dead. "His name came up a few times in some of your old FIC files, and I know he had a hand in killing Faldr's father. But who is he, exactly?"

"His birth name was Kelkaid Betredin. He took the name Nagratek to gain some credibility after he rose to power in a terrorist organization called the Order of the Hollow Soul. We destroyed it, and he's dead now. Faldr rushed here to kill Glaian because he thought Glaian might have some connection of Kelkaid."

"Do you?"

"That remains to be seen." Without another word, Jigafta left the room. X'lish rolled her eyes and followed after him.

"That man is a riddle." Phoney remarked to Bartleby as the two of them followed after Jigafta.

"He smells weird too." Bartleby responded, wrinkling his nose. "His scent faintly reminds me of the Hooded One."

"It's probably just the cold air messing with you." Phoney patted Bartleby on the head. Internally, Phoney took note of Bartleby's remark. Even though he trusted Jigafta in the moment, he knew the stranger was keeping some big secrets. And he vowed, then and there, to uncover them.

* * *

Archibald and Glaian stood on opposite ends of a large square table in the middle of an even large stone room in the middle of the Norgabard. Sprawling on the table were documents of information, an array of charts and figures, sections of ancient writings translated into modern language, and several large maps of the same area of land in the middle of the desert. Archibald rubbed the stumpy wrist where his right hand used to be as he explained what the maps meant. "We've finally begun to process the photos we took a few months ago with the hacked satellites. The results we got were… strange, to say the least." He pointed at one taken using infrared sensors. "We found a patch of land almost one thousand square miles in area where the average temperature was almost seven degrees lower." Then he pointed at a normal picture. It showed a plain desert. "But when we looked at it with a normal camera, there wasn't anything special about it. Until we pointed a receiver at it. Then we discovered that it gave off a strange, low hum across every radio frequency. So we sent a short burst of radio waves at it, and they all bounced off. I think what we're observing is the Dreaming actively shrouding the area from detection, though how it simultaneously reflects electromagnetic waves and gives off the illusion of a desert to our satellites baffles me. And if the dreaming is protecting it, then that must be the location of the Valley."

"Did you find a way around it?" Glaian asked, intrigued by the situation facing him.

"It took me a bit, but I figured out that it doesn't reflect ultraviolet light, so I managed to put together a working prototype UV communicator that I'm hoping will allow us to communicate with the outside world while we're inside. It's allowed me to stay in mostly constant, albeit patchy, contact with the drones I sent in, so results are looking promising."

"And what of the dreaming itself. What is it?"

"It appears to be some sort of quantum field able to interact with and modify atomic properties. It doesn't exist everywhere, but the area it covers is slowly expanding. In a few months, it'll start reaching across our borders. We've tried to influence it with electromagnetism, weak interaction, and strong interaction, but it seems to have no charge whatsoever. Which is baffling, considering it induces EM pulses the quartzite isomer in the pre-frontal auxiliary cortex found in most animal species with complex brains, referred to Fone Bone as the "Dreaming Eye", which is how we now think dreams occur. Whatever this thing is, the two small scout ships we sent out near Wadralia have detected it there as well, though it isn't moving in from that direction. It, or more probably its absence, might be what makes this continent so toxic to sustained human life, but allows us to thrive perfectly normally. And if we look at Fone Bone's book as entirely accurate, which is one hell of a stretch by the way, then it could bring most of his fantastic imaginings, like talking animals, into the realm of scientific logic. As a last note, it appears that, in the areas of the desert it does cover, it is weakest around that temple we found in the desert in our initial expeditions. And what we've translated so far of the texts in the temple make it out to be less of a tomb or place of worship, and more of a prison. Frankly Glaian, I think we've stumbled onto something really, really big here that we can only begin to grasp."

"This is not fiction or conspiracy, Archibald, this is war. Our enemy is humanity, and if they draw upon these fields as a means of power, then if we eliminate that, we can cut off their supply lines and cut the head off the snake." He picked up one of the myriads of wall-text translations lying on the table "And if this section of wall we found in the temple really translates as "Prison of the Awoken, slayer of Dreaming" then we might have a method of doing just that. But first we need to open that chrysalis we found there and figure out just what's inside. And preferably before that field reaches our boarders and makes human habitation of our country possible. If that happens, then we'll be facing another prolonged Wadralian occupation of the coasts at least, probably more, and this war might as well be lost. We have a time table Archibald. Make sure we stick to it."

"It isn't that simple. We don't even know how the chrysalis operates, much less what the material it's made out of or any vague idea of how to crack it open. It broke two diamond drill bits for crying out loud! And that didn't leave a scratch on it! I think the way to open it, if there is one, could only be found in that Valley. In these "Dragon strongholds." If these dragons are as attuned to this force as Fone Bone dictates, then they must have some connection to the chrysalis and this ever encroaching doomsday field. The map my drones have been constructing is nearing completion, so whenever you say the word, we can depart for the Valley and find some answers for once."

"That does seem like a logical course of action. But first, we must wait for President Phoncible to step out of the shadows and look me in the eye. And when we have him, we can proceed with destroying him."

"You can't seriously believe he'd come all the way out here do you? I mean, I did kill his cousin, but he's too smart to just walk into an enemy fortress he knows he won't walk out of."

"I know, but he'll send another one of his assassins after me. And another one. Until he finally gets enraged enough to try to kill me himself. And then we'll capture him. Honestly, it's a good thing you failed to kill him back in the capital. I want to see him suffer all the more as the arbiter of the House of Bone's madness. We'll drag him to the Valley and make him watch as we kill another one of his cousins. And then we'll destroy his precious humans. And when he finally begs for death, I'll kill him in the slowest way possible, all the while reminding him of how he let it all happen."

"You're insane, you know that." Archibald laughed. Glaian gave him a cold, unamused stare. Suddenly, a soldier ran into the room gasping for breath

"Sir," He said wheezing, "The two guards in the records room have been killed. They're necks were broken."

"Alert the interior guard. It looks like his assassins are already here." He said to the soldier. The man nodded and ran back out of the room. "Nibet!" Glaian shouted.

"Yes, Lord Glaian?" Nibet Trenya was standing in the corner of the room, awaiting orders.

"Keep an eye out. Make sure no one slips in here unnoticed."

"That won't be necessary." Said a voice behind him. Glaian turned around and saw three bones and a hulking purple creature standing in an opened hatchway on the back wall. "Glaian Nagratek, the All-Consuming. You have been marked for death. Prepare yourself for the end. Know that it will not come swiftly or mercifully." Phoney spoke, his voice cold and malicious, but with a slight edge of fear.

"Ah, Phoncible. I knew you would be sending assassins after me, but I didn't think you would be so idiotic as to try to kill me yourself. By all means, speed up my plans even further. I can only thank you at this point, you really have made conquering this country a simple task. When you sent Faldr Milzaek after me, that really sealed the deal, but-" X'lish snapped at the mention of her deceased husband. She drew her sword and rushed him. Nibet moved equally as fast, intercepting her sister, catching her sword mid swing.

"Sister." She said as she threw the blade aside.

"You lost the right to call me that when you drew your blade against my husband." X'lish threw a punch at her face, but when Nibet blocked it. X'lish immediately shifted her weight, drew back her arm, and kneed her sister in the gut. Nibet staggered back, winded, and X'lish lunged at her with another punch while Jigafta advanced on Glaian.

"You are a madman and a murderer. You have killed thousands through your actions. And when you fall today, know that Jigafta Utenki put you in the ground and ended your reign of terror." He drew his blade and readied his stance. He could tell by Glaian's movements that his anatomy wasn't natural.

"As yes, Jigafta Utenki. The Wrath of the Shard. The Great Betrayer. The False Prophet. The Walking Nightmare. You held many titles, once. A mythos of death and destruction surrounds you. If anyone here is the murderer and the madman, it is you. From what I hear, in five short years you managed to tear apart the entire Order, top to bottom. I'm going to enjoy feasting on your power."

Glaian entered his own fighting stance, without a weapon, and leapt at Jigafta. His hands immediately went for the assassin's face, but Jigafta rolled to the left. He stood up as Glaian was recovering and brought his sword down upon Glaian's neck. Only it didn't hit his neck. Glaian whipped around and caught the blade with his teeth, breaking it in half with a twist of his neck. Jigafta immediately dove backwards, but Glaian jumped into the air and landed behind him. He straightened up and cracked his knuckles as Jigafta braced himself for another attack.

Phoney meanwhile ran at Archibald and grabbed him by the neck. He pinned him to the ground and pulled out a pistol.

"The assassins I brought with me use mainly blades, but I decided to bring a gun along, just in case. I was never very good with swords."

"Trying to make small talk with me as you're trying to kill me. Man, killing your cousin must have really sent you over the edge." Archibald retorted, but before he could get out another reply Phoney's hand pressed deeper into his windpipe preventing him from speaking.

"Did you know that scientists say that because our people lived in the desert for so long that we adapted to its conditions to some very extreme degrees? We super condensed our muscled to save time transporting energy and blood. Our noses got huge to pick up slight scent changes, while our outer ears dropped off because the harsh desert winds made listening for potential dangers useless and distracting. And our genitals even condensed themselves inside our guts when we didn't consciously need them, to preserve our reproductive functions in such a hostile environment. I wonder how many shots to the gut it'll take before I can rip yours out of you. Or, what's left of it anyway." Silent terror ran across Archibald's face as Phoney pulled back the firing hammer.

X'lish's fist slammed into Nibet's nose, and she sent her sister careening through the air. Rage burned across her mind as she advanced on her broken form on the ground. X'lish kicked Nibet hard in the stomach, and she reacted spitting up blood all over Xlish's boot.

"We swore an oath!" She shouted. "To ourselves, and to each other! That we were done being played for fools by the Order! And now, you kill my husband in the service of the same ideals!" She kicked her sister again. Nibet started to stagger beck up, but then collapsed again. "Is this all you can muster, you coward?" X'lish dropped her guard.

Without another word Nibet swept her sister's feet and slammed her fist into X'lish's stomach. She drew a dagger from her belt and brought it against X'lish's stomach for the kill. X'lish rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding death, and sprung back up onto her feet, only for Nibet to lunge at her again and pin her to the ground.

"I have not gone back on my word, dear sister. The Order's way of thinking was weak. But I have pledged myself to a new god, a stronger god, and nothing you say or do will shake my resolve in serving his ultimate might. Now die, afraid, like your husband." The dagger descended upon Xlish's stomach. She bucked upwards, sending Nibet into the air and scurried back a few feet to resume fighting.

"How do you know those names? Most haven't been spoken by people since before I assumed this name." Asked Jigafta as he caught Glaian's fist inched from his face.

"I'm privy to some of your secrets." Glaian mused as he struck out at Jigafta again. "Even your real name. I must say, I expected more from the man with such an extensive file in my father's collection."

"I'm not going to waste all my energy fighting a runt like you." Jigafta smirked as he dodged Glaian's attack and grabbed his arm, spinning him into a choke hold. "You also seem to have been modified extensively. I doubt you're entirely organic anymore."

"You catch on quick. Archibald modified me years ago. I'm faster, stronger, tougher, and smarter than almost everyone on the planet. And I come with an added bonus. I can copy the neural patterns of my victims upon contact. Feeding off their talents and memories, growing stronger and more skilled as I add to my collection. That's how I earned the title "The All-Consuming." I can literally consume what makes you, you, and leave you a broken, dead husk." Glaian broke free from Jigafta's grip, and narrowly dodged his kick as it careened to his side. He brought his own leg into Jigafta's stomach, sending him flying across the room and into Phoney as he was about to take the first shot. Archibald immediately surged up and sprinted as far away from the president as he possibly could.

"You can't beat me Jigafta. And your partner can't beat Nibet. Give up now, while you still have a chance to join the right side." Said Glaian. X'lish retreated back to where the two others stood, and together the three of them faced their adversaries as one.

"We weren't trying to beat you Glaian. We were just buying time. You didn't even notice where the rat creature went during all of that, did you?" Said Phoney. Bartleby descended from the ceiling behind the three intruders and let out a terrifying growl.

"It's done." He said.

"Then blow it." Phoney smirked. X'lish pressed a small button in her hand, and suddenly the ceiling buckled as plastic explosives lining it detonated, turning the whole ceiling into rubble. The four made a break for the exit, but Archibald jumped out of the shadows and grabbed Phoney before he could make it to the archway. Phoney kicked him in the face, and kept running as the four of them made it into the maintenance tunnel. He looked over his shoulder as he saw Glaian and Nibet dragging Archibald's unconscious form into a doorway right before the ceiling totally collapsed, blocking his view.

"Damn it!" Phoney shouted as the three of them swung onto Bartleby's back. He carried them back to the dropship via the route he took to the lookout tower. They made the journey in silence. After they all loaded back up onto the aircraft, Phoney slammed his fist against the wall.

"I almost had him!" He shouted. "He was in my hands and I let him live!"

"It's alright." Said Jigafta, "We knew we probably wouldn't beat them on the first go round. Now that we've assessed their strengths and weaknesses, we can get back to base and figure out a real strategy for killing them. I doubt they'll survive our next encounter."

"About that," said X'lish, "You guys might want to take a look at this. She was in the cockpit, sitting at the communications array. A message from HQ was playing constantly in a loop on the screen.

"Perimeter breech! All units to the front line! This is not a drill! I repeat this is… Oh God! They've blown the command center! All forces, fall back, fall back!" It cut out and re started. Phoney shut it off.

"So Zachary and Findrel are dead. And they've taken the southern provinces. All in the few hours we were gone. Now that they have total control over the country, I guess they don't need me anymore." He was silent for a long time. The tension in the air could almost be cut with a knife.

"FUCK!" He finally shouted. "I try my best to make this country a better place and in a couple of weeks this madman has killed almost all of my friends and undone all of my progress just to further some stupid grudge!"

"We should head to the Western Coast." X'lish suggested. "If we can get you to Wadralia, maybe we can secure some human reinforcements"

"Humans won't stop him." Phoney cupped his head in his hands. "Just look at what he did to Rhumena."

"Actually…" Jigafta rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "That was me." Phoney looked up and gave Jigafta his best confused stare.

"What did you do in Rhumena?" X'lish asked.

"I sort of… used their own experimental technology to knock out their power grid." She joined Phoney in staring at him. "What? I like to mess stuff up occasionally. It's not like I did it to hurt anyone." Phoney closed his eyes and took a moment to gather himself. Then he stood up.

"Even if that's true, there're more pressing matters to deal with. From what we caught of Glaian's conversation, he wants to destroy the Dreaming. If that's the case, there's really only one course of action we can take. We go to Deren Guard, find the dragons, and tell them that a massive army is about to break down their front door. Maybe with an army of three ton fire breathing lizards on our side we might turn the tide."

"Dragons! You really expect us to believe that dragons exist?" Asked X'lish. "Is everyone going crazy?"

"Everything Fone wrote in his books was the absolute truth. Bartleby is living proof of that. Though you don't have to believe me." He got into the pilot's chair and started the takeoff procedure. "When we get to the valley, you can talk to the dragons yourself."

* * *

"Brothers and sisters, I come with great news. Only a few hours ago, I killed the President, and we now control all of the country. We have successfully taken down this corrupt, humanist government, and in its place the clans will rise again under the Nagratek banner. Together, we will rebuild the empire our ancestors envisioned. And we will start by wiping away this effigy to madness." Glaian was standing in the middle of Argus city, in front of the statue of Argus Bone himself. He waved his hand. Ropes tied to the statue dragged it down from its pedestal, and it cracked with a thunderous boom as it careened to the ground.

"The House of Bone has fallen! Now the Nagratek Clan shall rise again!" Archibald Bone stood up onto the platform Glaian was standing on. "And our first convert is here. Archibald Bone, a man instrumental in bringing an end to this oppressive regime, has asked to be christened with my glorious name. And, being the last living Nagratek, have it within my power to bestow upon any and all who would choose to throw off their oppressive identities the name of Nagratek." He turned to Archibald, who proceeded to kneel. Glaian placed his hands on Archibald's shoulders and spoke an ancient chant. After a few minutes, he turned back to the cameras. "Brothers and sisters I present to you: Archibald Nagratek, the first in a new line that will reshape this country into a future free from oppression. Form pain. From Humans!" The crowd in front of him exploded with cheering.

"As I speak the retched humans plan to assault our shores. But fear not, my siblings in suffering, for I have found the source of their strength. It is an energy they seek to use against us, to retake our lands and drive us from our homes. That is why I, and all who wish to volunteer, shall journey into the wastes and kill this force at its source. Brothers and sisters, it is time that we kill the human's hopes. It is time that we kill their dreams."


	10. Chapter 9: Tensions

Author's Note: As of June 27th, 2016, the entire fanfic has been rewritten. That means this chapter, all that came before it, and all that follow it now contain different content that they did previously. You are strongly encouraged to go back and reread the entire fanfic from the beginning, as the revised continuity may confuse you if you jump in part of the way through.

* * *

"Where is he?" Thorn muttered to herself under her breath. She stood in the middle of the throne room in the same dress she had worn to her coronation surrounded by dozens of nobles, merchants, two or three priests, and other important high society members. Despite the large crowd, most of Thorn's royal court had decided not to attend. Mermie and the Dreaming Council were performing some sort of ceremony in their tower, while Gran'ma Ben had decided to accompany Taneal on her yearly pilgrimage a few days prior, and hadn't returned yet. Fone also had yet to make an appearance. Thorn thought back on his words on the roof, and suddenly didn't think a strange display of unknown foreign cultural music would make this party any better. She said a few words of feigned gratitude to the group of nobles that had just recently approached her, and made her way to one of the servants standing at the edge of the room.

"Lily." She said as quietly as possible, not wanting to alert any more mingling socializers to her presence.

"Yes my queen?" Asked the servant girl.

"Fone still hasn't arrived, and I'm worried he'll do something foolish. Please find him and tell him that whatever he's planning isn't a good idea."

"Yes your majesty." The servant quietly slipped out the door and frantically began searching for her charge. Thorn turned back to the party as a member of the Noble Council's inner circle approached her.

"Ah, Councilman Gabriel. I didn't expect to see you here. I though after your wife had passed that you took some time away from the inner circle to readjust yourself."

"I did, your majesty. I have returned upon hearing the news of you inviting Pawans into the palace. Many members of the council are fervently opposed to this action, but I will stand by whatever decision you make. I decided that if you were going to be making bold moves in the name of progress, then you'd need more than your grandmother as the head of the council and representative to the royal court to coax some loyalty out of them."

"The sentiment is much appreciated, Councilman, but I assure you that the loyalty of the Noble Council has never been in question. Despite some resistance, I have managed to convince enough of them that a renewed relationship with the Pawans is a move in the right direction, especially since their chieftain died almost two years ago and his sons have been much more receptive to talks of rebuilding the road system between our two nations. I believe that if trade can resume, then we can all put the past wars behind us and focus on building up our nation into the kingdom it once was."

"I admire your vision, your grace. This event celebrating the Pawans was a genius move, especially since the merchants have a chance to compare notes between nations. But the princes still haven't arrived. If they don't show, this whole gesture will be pointless." She saw Lily poke her head back through the door, and motion for Thorn to come outside.

"Excuse me Councilman. Some business had emerged that I must attend to. Please, enjoy yourself. The celebration has only just begun after all." She walked away from his slightly confused stare and out the door, to see Fone Bone standing with a strange silver box and orange rope, and Lily looking very exhausted. "Thank you Lily, you can go now." She said.

"Yes, my queen." The servant girl left to attend to the guests inside.

"What is that thing?" Thorn asked. Before Fone could answer, she stopped him, "Never mind, you can explain it later. I'm sure it's really interesting and does something amazing, but right now, this isn't what I need." Fone Bone looked slightly hurt.

"I thought you wanted to liven up the party. Now you're telling me to run all the way back to my car and put all of this up again? I have some good music here, quality stuff I know you'd enjoy. What's gotten into you?"

"I just think that a wild display of strange music from what they'll think is a magical box of weirdness isn't exactly helping the point of celebrating the Pawans as a people and welcoming them back into the city. Plus this is your first public appearance as a Dragon Saint. Do you really want to make yourself look like a fool in front of all of the Atheian elite? And the Pawan guests?"

"Well you do have a point." Fone Bone, slightly bereft, coiled the extension cord back up and set it and the player inside one of the bushes in the courtyard. With that done, he returned to the conversation at hand. "I'll keep this away from the party, but promise me when that, when this is over, you'll listen to some music with me. You'll like it, trust me."

"Ok, you've got a deal. Come on, we've got a party to attend. Don't think for a second that I'm dealing with another one of these haughty self-important nobles without some help." They walked back to the door.

"Come on, they can't be all that bad, can they?" Fone opened the door, and was greeted by a host of gasps and exasperated glances in his direction. As he and Thorn made their way through the crowd to talk up important individuals and introduce everyone to him, onlookers kept shooting Fone strange looks. "Looks like I spoke too soon." He said to her under his breath. She chuckled slightly. She looked around to see if anyone was looking. Satisfied that no one was, she responded.

"Wait until the Pawans get here. Then the pretentious parade will really kick off."

"Ah, Queen Thorn. I didn't think we'd get another chance to speak after the rather abrupt end to our earlier conversation. Has your business been resolved?" Councilman Gabriel sauntered over through the mingling crowd to meet up with Thorn and Fone. Gabriel looked at Fone as he wandered over, and immediately his eyes shot daggers, masked quickly by an expression of curiosity. "And who might this be?" He asked, a slight strain in his voice.

"I think you already know who my guest is, Gabriel. You've no doubt seen his carving in the Queen's Square."

"Ah yes. Dragon Saint Fone Bone, Locust Slayer and Rat Rider." He put particular emphasis on those last two words, "You did us a great service all those years ago. My family was killed by rats, you know. It's a good thing you put a stop to that war, or else many more families would have shared mine's fate."

"No please, No thanks are necessary. In my position, any inhabitant of this valley would have done the same. I'm just glad things have improved vastly since I was here last." Responded Fone, with genuine modesty in his voice.

"I agree things have improved, but I don't think just anyone would have done what you did. Those filthy rats and savage hill Pawans for example. They wouldn't have had the spine to do what needed to be done. Or the cowardly dragons, hiding in their caves while the valley burned. They wouldn't lift a finger to save us. But I still stand by the queen's decision. If she says they can be trusted, then they can be trusted. I've never known her majesty's judgement to be wrong."

"Thank you Gabriel. It was nice meeting you again." A guard ran up to Thorn before she could speak.

"The Pawans are here." He whispered in her ear, "They said they would… appreciate it if you announced their arrival." She chewed the thought for a moment.

"Open the doors when I saw the word princes. Then they enter and get their flourish and flare. And I get a solid standing with the new rulers."

"Yes my Queen." Said the guard. He ran back to the doors and gave her orders to the men standing near them before relaying the message to the Pawans outside. Thorn stood up on her throne after a minute, and motioned for everyone to quiet down. This happened rather quickly. Then she began to speak.

"Ladies and gentlemen, friends and new arrivals, I have an announcement to make. It is with great jubilation that I announce the arrival of our guests on honor tonight, Princes Caydmar and Rankyne." The doors opened and in stepped the princes, arrayed in fine Athenian style formal wear. Both were twins, Thorn's age with short brown hair. With them came two bodyguards, four servants, and a handful of merchants to talk business with the Athenians.

"It is a great pleasure to be standing in the halls of the Athenian Palace." Said Rankyne, "Though I hope you don't expect us to kneel. We're not here seeking vassalage, despite what some rumors claim."

"We're here to reestablish the trade routes our father and uncle burned in their petty war. My brother and I hope that this gathering may allow both our kingdoms to once again prosper through mutual cooperation." Their words were greeted with fervent applause from the crowd. Thorn began to speak again.

"Now that our guests of honor have arrived, the main meal will be served shortly. Until then, please enjoy each other's company."

* * *

"So, Fone Bone. Now that the meal is underway and the merchants and nobles are talking business, I was hoping you could recount to us the story of how you and the Queen defeated the Locust." Said Prince Rankyne. Everyone had moved to the dining hall a few minutes prior to begin eating. Most of the rest of the guests were seated at the smaller tables while the princes, Thorn, Fone, and a few Atheian councilmembers and Pawans were seated at a large long table, with Thorn at one end and the princes at the other.

"I'm not really sure where to begin. I was here for over a year, and the whole time seemed like one big adventure. Where would you like me to begin? My arrival at the Dragon's Stair? The start of the war with the Rats? The coming of the ghost circles? Or would you like to skip straight to the juicy part: the descent into Tanen Guard?" Fone was seated on Thorn's right side, across from Gabriel, on a raised stack of cousins that put him about level with the rest of the guests.

"Start at the beginning. Spare no detail. I want to hear everything about your adventures." Said prince Caydmar.

"Then we'll probably be here all night. We might not even get to the actual fights against the Locust's forces until tomorrow."

"We have time. We are staying a few days anyway. The merchants can handle the negotiations and such, and the details can be hammered out at any time, but how many opportunities will we have to hear such a tale of unmatched proportions from the lips of the Locust Slayer himself?"

"If you insist, I'll tell you, though it will take a while for things to pick up. My cousins, Smiley Bone and Phoney Bone, and I had been running for our lives for two weeks. The townspeople of our home, Boneville, had run us out when Phoney, an undoubtedly disliked person beforehand, had decided to run for mayor…" Fone continued with the story for another hour and a half, relaying the story up until right before the great cow race was about to start. Suddenly, as he was about to reach the climax of this chapter of his story, one of Taneal's priests approached Thorn and bowed.

"My Queen, Taneal wishes to express her deepest regrets that she was not able to join you tonight. But if you need anything, know that I act on her authority." He spoke softly. After he had finished speaking, he began to return to his table. Then everything happened at once. A man dressed in extremely traditional Pawan servant's robes burst into the room.

"Queen Thorn!" He shouted, "I have an important message for you." Thorn's brow furrowed. The priest swiftly drew a small vile from his robes. He threw it onto the ground, and out from it billowed thick smoke. The Pawan dashed at the Queen while the guests were blinded, and he placed a dagger at her throat before she could move. When the smoke cleared, the priest and servant were holding Thorn hostage at the far end of the room.

"Thorn!" Fone shouted.

"Silence!" the priest screamed. "For too long our brothers of Pawa have suffered at the hands of the House of Harvester! Now, their tainted lineage will fall, and a new alliance of the Pawans and the Dragon Church shall rise from the ashes and liberate this valley from oppression!"

The servant prepared to slit her throat. The whole room stood rapt in horror. Suddenly Councilman Gabriel drew two short daggers from his cloak, and in one swift motion killed both would be assassins on the spot.

"Well, it seems this whole party was a farce." He said as he walked over to the corpses of the two men. "And it looks like your friend Taneal betrayed you to the Pawans, my Queen. At least my time in the Vedu paid off with some useful combat skills." He pulled his daggers from the two dead men. "I'm glad you're safe. What do you want to do with the traitors?" Thorn stood in shock. She composed herself, and shouted orders.

"Lock down the palace!" She shouted. "No one leaves until we get to the bottom of this! In the meantime, throw the Pawans into the dungeon and someone find me Taneal's assistant! I want to know exactly where she went on her "pilgrimage"." The guards grabbed the Princes and forced them to the ground.

"No!" Shouted Fone. "You will do no such thing. The Pawans and Taneal are innocent." Thorn's rage started boiling over.

"They just tried to kill me, Fone! What is so innocent about that?! Why is that not clear?! Why aren't you taking my side?! After everything we've been through why are you still opposing my judgement?!"

"I am taking your side, believe me, I just don't want you to make a hasty decision. This whole thing feels wrong. If they wanted you dead, why did the princes show up at all? Why not just kill you when you first had those doors opened? Or poison the food? Or any number of better ways that wouldn't leave them at the mercy of the guards? And Taneal has been your friend for years, why would she try to kill you now, as opposed to any one of your meetings where you have less protection? And the weird flare was a bit unnecessary. Explaining exactly who it was that was trying to kill you makes this whole thing seem set up somehow."

"Well Fone, what would you have me do? These are members of the Pawan servitude and the Dragon priesthood. If Taneal and the Princes aren't behind this, then at the very least people close to the top in both organizations must be, and until we can sort out the truth, I need to be very cautious about how I proceed."

"That man isn't a Pawan!" Shouted Rankyne as he struggled against his captor. "Look at him, he doesn't look anything like we do! He's got blond hair! You won't find any blond Pawans in the whole valley! And his dress is all wrong. That garb is from at least fifty years ago, nothing any Pawan servant would wear today!" The guards began to drag Rankyne and Caydmar out of the door. The servants and merchant were also being detained. Fone ran over to the body of the priest, and bent over to examine him. After a short time, he drew in a sharp, quick breath, and stood up.

"Everyone stop!" He shouted, "I have proof that the Pawans and the clergy are innocent. This man," he pointed to the priest, "Is not a priest. He may wear priestly robes, but I recognize his face. He was a disciple of Vedu back during the siege, and was the one that knocked Taneal's shrines down the morning of the battle. And his accomplice isn't a Pawan either, as Prince Rankyne just pointed out." Everyone in the room paused, and even the guards stopped carrying away the princes.

"So we have two imposters, one belonging to the disciples of Vedu, attacking the queen and declaring that the Dragons and the Pawans, two groups that couldn't be closer to the queen's favor, want her dead. I don't know about you, but that seems extremely suspicious. We also have a guest here tonight who used to belong to the same order as the imposter and who hates not only the Pawans, but the Dragons as well." Fone turned to face Gabriel, who started sweating and tensing up.

"Tell me Gabriel, did these men know you would kill them, or was that display spur of the moment to gain some favor with the Queen and the people." Thorn looked from Fone to Gabriel to the dead priest, and the same conclusion dawned on her as well. She rose, and moved to stand beside Fone facing Gabriel.

"Guards. Release the Pawans. And arrest Councilman Gabriel for treason and attempted murder of the Queen of the Valley."

"Surely you can't be serious, your majesty. This is some half-baked evidence from an outsider. How can you be so sure you can even trust him?" Gabriel started panicking, and frantically looked around for an escape route as guards closed in on him.

"Outsider? You're more of an outsider than Fone will ever be. Fone has been by my side through the worst times of my life, and he's been persistent in supporting me no matter how many times I've lashed out in my brash fury. And you're a snake and a pig who tried to have me killed. So who do you think I'm going to believe?" The guards caught him as he tried to bolt for the exit, and slammed him to the ground. He fell unconscious instantly. The guards dragged him off to the dungeon as Thorn approached the gathered group of Pawans. She also turned to the guests still lingering.

"You are dismissed. The negotiations will resume when everything has been straightened out." She turned to the Pawans. "I apologize for my rash behavior. I hope the guards weren't rough on you. Please accept my humblest apologies for this whole mess." She began to bow, but Caydmar stopped her.

"You don't have to apologize for anything. You were just reacting how anyone would react to almost being killed by people you thought you could trust. My brother and I know the feeling. When Briar seized control of the Pawan villages, zealous soldiers paraded through our town conscripting anyone strong enough to fight. When we refused, they almost killed us, and forced us into the army against our will. When it all settled, and our father took control, we considered having those men put to death. But we spared their lives because it was the right thing to do. You made that same choice, and that's all that matters. We can talk more when you're ready." The Pawans retreated from the room to chambers the servants had prepared for them. Thorn wandered out of the palace and onto the steps of the courtyard. Fone followed her. They both sat down on the stairs together and watched the sunset over the gate to the palace in silence. After a few minutes, Thorn started talking.

"I'm sorry about what happened back there. I got angry, and I guess I haven't learned to control my violent temper yet. I snapped at you, and I shouldn't have. And you still tried to help me even though I was so furious with you. I don't deserve someone as dedicated as you in my life." She stared into Fone's eyes, and then turned her head away and cast her eyes at the ground.

Fone decided to muster up his courage at that moment. He took her far cheek in his hand, and gently her face back towards his. This second moment of contact felt infinitely more intimate than the first one on the roof earlier that day. He looked into her eyes as tears welled up in their corners, and gently brushed them aside.

"I told you, I'm not leaving. No matter what happens, I will stay by your side and defend you until my dying breath. That's a promise." Their faces glided closer, but something inside Thorn made her stop.

"I told you, I don't deserve to have you in my life. I mean, when have I ever done anything for you? I'm not worth sticking around for anyway." She brushed his hand off of her cheek.

"Yes you are." He stood up and looked her dead in the eye. She was captivated by them. Never before had she noticed that his eyes looked so… deep. "You, more than anyone in the world, are worth it. You're worth everything. Because I…" The words caught in his throat. Five years of trying to build up the courage to tell her that he loved her, and the words adhered to his insides like glue, refusing to leave. He took a deep breath, and prepared himself for whatever was about to happen. It didn't suffice.

"I l-" Suddenly before he could get his words out a gunship appeared above them and descended to the ground between them and the palace gate. "Will the universe let me finish my goddamn-" Again his words caught in his throat. The door opened, and out stepped Phoney and Bartleby, along with two bones Fone had never seen before. "Phoney… You're here. Why? Not that I'm not happy to see you, but why are you here?" Phoney said nothing, but walked straight up to Fone and punched him square on the nose, knocking him to the floor. "What was that for?!" Fone shouted as he got back up. Phoney exploded.

"For not being there when Smiley died!" He shouted. He collapsed to the floor, his eyes downcast and defeated.

"What..." Fone began to real in shock. Before he could digest what was going on, more people joined the party. The princes burst through the door.

"We heard a great commotion, what was the… Bloody stars!" They stared at the dropship Phoney and company had landed in. Lastly the gate opened, and in stepped Taneal and Gran'ma Ben, with the Great Red Dragon and Ted in tow. They stopped to take in the scene for a moment, before continuing with their business. Gran'ma Ben spoke.

"I don't know why you're here Phoncible, but you and your friends can come along all the same. Taneal and I were on a pilgrimage to Deren Guard. We met with Dragon Council, and they immediately sent us back here with Ted and the Great Red Dragon. They've summoned Fone, Thorn, and the Pawan Princes to an audience. Apparently the dreaming is going out of balance. Again. Why does that always happen when you two Bone boys show up? Well no matter, come on let's get going." Silence hung in the air like a shroud. Before anyone could say anything, Thorn screamed.

"What the fuck is going on?!" She looked around for an answer. Phoney met her gaze and looked her in the eyes with a dead stare.

"We're at war, your majesty." He almost spat the last word as he looked around at the crowd of people in the courtyard, "And you're all almost out of time. Glaian is coming, and he's going to kill every human he can get his hands on."

* * *

"So, do you think the Morudagni will show up?" Asked Vokelle.

"He has no reason not to. The black eye's sympathizer is with them, after all. He and that insufferable insect should dissuade and suspicions they could have of our intentions. And I thought we agreed never to use the old clan names again." Said Lorimar.

"We did, but why should we honor the wishes of someone who boldly proclaims that she will take out one of our greatest inconveniences and then turns around and sends the same person to do her bidding."

"I said take care of, not take out. Now with this audience, his fears should be taken care of, and for the time being at least, he'll be on our side and continue to further our cause. And it won't just be him. All of our potential allies will be in one spot. And they'll learn the truth about the approaching force and assume that is the cause of the disturbance."

"And you think you can keep the waking of the two most powerful souls ever to exist a secret with a simple half-truth?" Asked Korin.

"I don't intend to. I intend to distract them with the Spark as well."

"The Spark?!" Shouted Quimrath. "Are you insane? A nightmare entity and the Spark together could do massive damage! It could even destroy the everlasting dream!"

"Not if we point it at a target." retorted Lorimar. "Besides, it needs a host if it is to serve as the Catalyst."

"You don't intent to harness the Awakened Council's sleeper agent against them, do you? You know how dangerous that is, right?" asked Korin.

"It could prove to be, but it's the best move we have. They won't be aware they have the Spark until its presence can open the Successor's black eye. And by the time they realize what's happening, the nightmare will become our tool to wield against the waking world."


	11. Chapter 10: All the Pieces

Author's Note: As of June 27th, 2016, the entire fanfic has been rewritten. That means this chapter, all that came before it, and all that follow it now contain different content that they did previously. You are strongly encouraged to go back and reread the entire fanfic from the beginning, as the revised continuity may confuse you if you jump in part of the way through.

* * *

"And then, after the room collapsed, we high-tailed it back to the dropship as fast as we could and flew over here to warn you. Glaian is coming, and you probably have two days at most before he gets here." Phoney had finished telling the tale of the last week of his life to everyone inside the dropship as it sped towards Deren guard. Jigafta and X'lish were in the cockpit while Phoney, Fone, Thorn, Caydmar, Rankyne, Taneal, and Gran'ma Ben were seated in the seats lining the walls of the plane. The humans had taken the dropships' existence in stride, and barely commented on the fact that it could fly. Bartleby was curled up on the floor. They had sent the Great Red Dragon and Ted ahead of them to tell the Council of their arrival.

Neither Fone nor Thorn had said much to anyone since Phoney had arrived. It was Gran'ma Ben who asked Phoney to recount to everyone the tale of Glaian's uprising and Smiley's death. A heavy shroud hung over the cabin as they screamed over the valley terrain. No one spoke, they just sat and tried to absorb the news they had been told. Smiley was dead. That hit all of them hard, but Fone most of all. His only real family for twenty-five years had been Phoney and Smiley, and now he was gone. It was like part of his soul had been ripped out of his chest and crushed on the ground.

And one of the worst parts was that Phoney blamed a part of his death on Fone. He could see it in Phoney's eyes, every contempt filled stare he shot in Fone's direction told of a thousand screaming, piercing words hidden just behind those cold orbs. Fone couldn't take it anymore. He broke the building tension like a hammer through glass.

"Do you have something you want to say to me?" He said to Phoney. Phoney shot him a look that was ice cold with contempt and flaming with anger at the same time.

"Yes, I have something I want to say to you. I spend the last week fighting for my life, watching my friends die in front of my eyes, running from a force I can't hope to contest with, and you're here, in this paradise, fleeing responsibility and duty, gallivanting off to God knows where doing God knows what with _her,_" He put particular emphasis on that last word, jabbing his finger in Thorn's direction, "instead of being there to do something, anything, when Smiley died! Hell, had you have been there, Smiley might not be dead at all!"

"That's hardly fair. We said our goodbyes and I departed on good terms. I had nothing more to do with that place, what could I have done to help you? If I had been there, I might be dead too! If you want to blame someone, blame the people responsible, not the first person you can get your hands on."

"Like you know something about responsibility! That's rich!" Phoney stood up and started laughing cynically. "I've been taking care of you since you were two! You're twenty seven years old and haven't ever had a real job! All you've ever done is mooch off of my vision and my success! And the first chance you got, you abandoned everything I've tried to build for us and for our family for some weird fantasy life you lived inside your head the last few years! Grow up!"

"You? Taking care of me?" Fone rose to meet Phoney's gaze. "Ever since I could read I've been getting you two out of situations you shouldn't have been in in the first place! I've saved your ass more times than I can count, and all you've ever done is put it and Smiley's back on the line again for some Godforsaken scheme! You always considered yourself above us, more responsible, smarter, and richer! And I thought you had changed when we got back, but you still kept tooting your own horn, still kept striving for that impossible dream of yours and leaving me and Smiley behind without a second thought! I left because you made it very clear that you didn't need me or Smiley anymore."

"I was trying to make this world a better place for us to live in! To give us a normal life and a secured future! To let Smiley be himself without ridicule! To let you live untethered to me and to me selfish lifestyle! But to do that I needed your support, and you refused to work with me!"

"You have been so blinded by your goals these past few years that you're more selfish than you've ever been, and you've been so greedy for peace that you forgot about who you were making that peace for! You're more obsessed over this dream now that you ever were over money, and look where it got you! Antagonizing Glaian, providing him with the boost he needed to launch an attack, you practically resigned Smiley to his fate when you took office!"

"At least I was with him when he died! At least I had the fucking courtesy to hear his last words before he passed! At least I didn't abandon him like you!" Phoney spit out the last few words before slouching back into his seat. Everyone was silent for a long time. Bartleby had woken up and lowly mewled to himself over the weight of the past few days. Finally Phoney spoke again.

"I will be civil, and I will work with you until this crisis has passed, if it ever passes, but don't think for a second that I'm putting this behind me. After this, you and I are through. From here on out, we are no longer family." Fone began to muster a response, but the words died before he could speak them. He didn't have it in him to keep shouting.

"Ok, that was… a bit terrifying." Said X'lish as she entered the cabin from the cockpit, "But we landed about a minute ago, so, we might want to get moving."

The ship sat at the mouth of Deren Guard, and everyone swiftly exited it to meet the Great Red Dragon and Ted standing at the entrance to the Dragon's Keep. As they walked along, Thorn pulled Fone aside.

"What do you need?" He asked her as they existed earshot of the others.

"What were you going to say to me back at the palace, before Phoney arrived? Sorry, I know this probably isn't the most appropriate time to be talking about this, but I really need to know what you were going to say." Fone sighed. He had gotten out of telling her when Phoney arrived, and now that the moment was gone, he didn't think he had the courage to try to tell her again.

"I… I really don't think this is the best time to be bearing my soul to someone right now, least of all you. I know that sounds weird, but once this is all done, I promise what I'm going to say then will, in hindsight, make a lot of things make a lot of sense. But I can't do that just yet. There's a lot weighing on my mind."

"No, I understand. When you're ready, just say what you have to say." The two of them walked back over to where the others were, and descended into the mouth of Deren Guard.

* * *

"Ah, Fone Bone and company I presume?" Said Lorimar as the group entered the innermost chamber of Deren Guard. "What a pleasure to meet you. I'm Lorimar, emissary of the first folk." She stretched out her wooden hand and Fone grabbed it.

"Ouch!" He shouted, and drew his hand back. He had cut himself on one of the sharper parts of Lorimar's wooden skin.

"My apologies, I must have forgotten to trim that this morning. Having a body that can grow strange appendages overnight is so tedious to maintain, I hope you'll forgive the inconvenience."

"It's quite alright, Lorimar. Let me introduce myself. I am Fone Bone, and this is my… associate Phoncible P. Bone, former president of the Republic of Bone Territories." He gestured to Phoney who was standing just to his right.

"Ah yes. My sincerest sympathies for what happened to you over the last week. Losing so much in so little time can be very taxing on the soul." She turned to the rest of the group. "I've met on my occasional visits to the human settlement everyone else here, but who are the two bones and the rat creature in the back."

"I am Jigafta Utenki, and this is X'lish Trenya. We're the President's personal bodyguards for the moment." Said Jigafta rather coldly. Lorimar was somehow set on edge by how Jigafta looked at her. It was almost as if he held her in some contempt.

"I'm Bartleby." Said Bartleby.

"Oh how could I forget the exiled rat creature?" Lorimar said with a hint of jubilation in her voice, putting Jigafta's scowl out of her mind. She paused to regain her composure. "I apologize, but I'm somewhat a fan of the stories the people of this valley have been telling about you all. I was there the day Mim was taken, and have seen many friends die at the hands of the Locust and his forces, so when I heard you had destroyed him, I was infinitely grateful."

"You called us here for a reason?" Thorn asked, slightly annoyed.

"Oh yeah. That. The council requested your presence. I guess Phoncible can come along as well, but the bodyguards and the rat creature will have to remain outside."

"Fine by us." Said X'lish. 'We'll head back to the plane and prep for takeoff while you guys do… stuff." The three of them walked back outside.

"That was… abrupt." Said the Great Red Dragon.

"It's been a long week for the four of us." Said Phoney as Lorimar stood aside allowing the group into the chamber of the council. Inside the innermost cave were five pedestals. Three were filled with dragons of various build. One was green and large with a flat face and a piggish snout. The second was black and had a long neck and a flat, serpentine head. The third was blue and coiled up like a snake with a thin head and a beard.

"These are the present members of the dragon council. Korin the Green, Vokelle the Black, and Quimrath the Blue. I believe you've already met Stillman the Red.

"You know I gave that name up when I left my post as forest guardian. Another dragon holds it now. Address him with it, not me."

"Ah yes, the "Great Red Dragon" is now what you go by." Said Vokelle. "You failed to save Mim so you left your post and gave your name to another red clan member. Ever the rabble-rouser. Though I suppose that's why the dragons wanted you in the council in the first place."

"I would play nice if I were you, Vokelle. I've been on this council since before you were an egg. You'd do well to respect your elders."

"And what would the son of Mim know of respect, Red One?" Asked Quimrath.

"Enough from all of you!" bellowed Korin.

"I believe I've met you before, Korin, though I can't remember where." Thorn remarked. She had had a puzzled look on her face since she first saw him.

"Ah princess, no, excuse me, Queen Thorn. I took care of you during your three years stay here. But that isn't really important right now. The subject of this meeting is. We've gathered you here today to warn you. We've sensed a great ripple in the dreaming. Armies march on our borders from across the desert, made up of what we can only assume are M… more of these Bone creatures."

"We're already aware of that, thank you very much. Those armies took over my country. My cous… Fone came here a week ago with warning about them. And this is the conclusion you come up with? That they exist?" Said Phoney.

"No, tiny ruler. We have called you here to tell you that conquest is not their goal. They seek something more."

"In the desert is the prison of an ancient enemy of the dragons, and of this entire valley: The Crystal Councilman. A first folk traitor, and ally of the Locust, who hated mankind and who tried to destroy the crown in the first war. We stopped him at great cost, and imprisoned him in secret in a temple outside of the Valley. They found him, and are trying to break his seals. If they do, he will destroy the crown and everyone in this valley will die. And the key to his prison cell lies in this very fortress." Said Lorimar.

"We've called you here today to inform you that we cannot offer much help against the coming invasion, though we can prevent them from employing him as a weapon." Said Quimrath.

"So that's it then? Before you even think of a plan, you're just going to abandon us to our fate like last time? From what Mr. Phoncible told us, this man Glaian leading them hates humans more than anything. Everyone in this valley is already dead if you don't give us your support!" Shouted Rankyne.

"We cannot, I'm sorry. It's not our place to meddle in human affairs."

"Korin, Vokelle, Quimrath, I implore you. We require aid against this foe. There isn't enough time in the world to prepare to fight something this far out of our reach." Taneal got on her knees and began begging. Vokelle gave an almost inaudible laugh. "I have been a faithful servant and leader of your followers for years, is there no help you can spare for such loyalty?"

"That aside," Gran'ma Ben interjected, "I'm willing to bet that if he's after what's in this complex, this isn't just a human problem. If he destroys the Crown every living thing in this valley, possible the world, will die. Is there no aid you can offer to prevent that?"

"There is." Said the Great Red Dragon. "The council can spare me. And several other Red Clan warriors under my niece's command. They're not great in small spaces, but they can't be beat at lightning fast offence. And the council can function a man down, if I'm not mistaken."

"Of course we can spare those Red Clan freaks. They'd just get in the way anyhow." Remarked Quimrath.

"A few dragons? Against the giants of steel and fire and death Phoncible described? We'll need more than that if we want to fight them off." Scoffed Caydmar.

"We don't need to fight them off, we need to stall them. Prod at their defenses. Use the terrain to our advantage. They don't know this valley like you all do, so we stay out of reach until we can kill their top commanders and send them into chaos. My navy and the remains of my army can easily mop up the mess on both sides of this desert once they have no morale." Phoney boasted, rather proud his stratagems would actually come in handy.

"It's a sound plan, though I do hope you aren't forgetting the enemies' technological advantages." Said Gran'ma Ben. "You're the only one here who's seen them firsthand in battle. Do you think the terrain would give us any advantage?"

"Yes, some of it will. Atheia will fall, it sits right in their line of sight on a flat plain. But the Pawan hills are rocky enough to prevent them from deploying at full strength, and the mountains would make it impossible for them to fight with anything but foot soldiers."

"Are you suggesting that we evacuate the Royal City? Abandon it?" Asked Taneal.

"Yes, it's the only chance we have. Move all of the civilians into the mountains in the East and move the guard to the Dragon's Stair and set up an ambush. With any luck we can capture their scouts' equipment and use it against them. Then we wage a long gruella war and wait for an opportunity."

"Do we have a plan to kill Glaian?" Asked Caydmar. "I'd like to know if your entire plan is based on more than just a wing and a prayer."

"I do in fact. He'll want to flaunt this victory, set up shop in Atheia and turn the most sacred places into a testament to "human folly". That's what he did in Argus city anyway. We can use that to our advantage now though, because this situation forces him to use that position as his command center as well. But no one knows the palace and the streets like the royal guard. If we can sneak back in, killing him should be child's play."

"Sounds good enough. Do we know how long it will be before the enemy arrives?" Asked Thorn.

"We think sometime within the week, but the rate at which the dreaming is rippling is hard to get a grasp on, so it could be as early as tomorrow." Said Lorimar.

"Then we have to get back to Atheia and evacuate everyone as soon as possible. If this man hates humans as much as Phoney says, then anyone standing in his way will be dead before they can blink, so the first priority is to get out of his way and make ourselves invisible. Caydmar and Rankyne can organize an evacuation effort for the valley citizens from Atheia while Gran'ma and I head to Old Man's cave to organize the guard for the ambush. I'm sorry to cut this meeting short, but time is of the essence. We really should be going back to make preparations."

"I completely understand. Meanwhile we'll do our part to keep the Councilman locked away." Said Korin.

"I'd like to stay here and coordinate our efforts with the Council, if they don't mind my presence." Said Taneal.

"We would be honored if such a devoted servant of the council were to remain. Allies are in short supply among the court these days, but perhaps as this drags on we can find some to assist the humans if they choose to maintain a presence here." Vokelle remarked with a slight smirk.

"Then we take our leave. Make sure that you don't let this place fall. We'll be back in a day or two with an ambush party." Said Gran'ma Ben. The group, save for Taneal, left the chamber and retreated back out of the complex to the plane, which X'lish and Jigafta had already prepared for takeoff. Thorn and Fone were the first to load, but right as they did something large and metallic crested the horizon of the desert.

"Shit, they're here!" Thorn shouted. "Everybody on. Forget the ambush, we need to get out of here and evacuate Atheia! Move!" Everyone scrambled onto the plane. She stopped Gran'ma Ben before she got on. "Gran'ma I need you and the Great Red Dragon to bring the news to Old Man's Cave. The council can stall the forces, so be quick. We haven't the time to evacuate the guard, but if you retreat far enough in, they might pass you by. If they do, get yourselves to the old rat creature temple in the mountains."

"Sounds like a solid plan. I'll go get Red's attention." She turned to the entrance and shouted, "Red! We need to get to Old Man's Cave and get the guard underground!" Without a word he swooped Gran'ma Ben onto his back and headed off towards the cave. Thorn turned to Ted.

"Ted, I need you to gather up all of the villagers in the north and get them to the old rat creature temple as soon as possible. Avoid anything that moves. It's the only chance they have. Hopefully someone will be waiting for you there."

"Understood." Ted bounded off in that direction. The rest of the group boarded the plane and it took off for Atheia.

"They're here earlier than expected." Remarked Caydmar.

"What did you think would happen, they'd stick to a timetable? They're itching to kill everyone here. They wouldn't arrive when expected if their lives depended on it." Shouted Jigafta from the cockpit. The plane screamed across the valley as the mechs inched ever closer to the Dragon's Stair. Just at the entrance to Deren Guard was leaving view, a mech reached it, and was instantly greeted with an intense blast of fire. A dragon swooped out from the archway and pierced the cockpit with his claws, pulling the pilot out and chomping him down. More mechs took his place, and the dragon retreated back into the entrance with several behind him.

"Hopefully they can hold out." Remarked Rankyne. Fone meanwhile surveyed the damage. Glaian had arrived. And Archibald worked for him. And Fone had arrived. In a car built by Archibald. Suddenly more and more about the situation made sense. He had told them of the Valley's existence and then led them right to it.

"All my fault." He muttered under his breath as the dropship tore through the sky. "All my fault."

* * *

"So what if the black eyes are here earlier than expected? This will not delay our plans much. All we need to do is keep the key safe until the Spark activates and makes its way to Mon'Yaran. With any luck it will reach him before the turmoil weakens the chains enough for him to break them himself. And then every piece will be in place." Said Lorimar.

"You made promises, First Folk. You promised the expansion would take down the Morudagni forces. You promised that this nightmare entity would be a key player in the game. You promised we would live to see the everlasting dream. But their forces batter our doors, and the entity is flying to its death taking the Spark with it. You have failed to make due on these promises you have made." Retorted Vokelle.

"Have faith, Vokelle. And need I remind you again not to use the old names?"

"Our agreement means nothing unless you can deliver to us the everlasting dream like you promised." Remarked Quimrath. "And what is this you mentioned about the nightmare entity now being an essential component. I thought the plan was to use the power from this place to force the change? Why risk everything by tainting it with the Falsely Oneiric…"

"It still is the plan, Quimrath, though we need to expand faster and entrap the black eyes within the Dreaming before it is too late. To that end I have graced the nightmare entity with the Spark that he might wield it. As you all know, no one here is capable of wielding the Spark at its full power, because we all lack essential components from one side or another. But a night mare entity doesn't share that limitation. I thought making the Successor do it was a win-win."

"Very clever thinking, Lorimar. It's almost hard to believe the Nacht got the best of you two years ago. But then again you were a bit… should I say, taken aback at the mass genocide of First Folk he committed." said Korin.

"Yes, to put it mildly. But the past is the past, and now that the expansion continues uninterrupted and we've gathered all the pieces to where it all began those many years ago, we can finally go about ending it all. All of this wretched noise and chaos. And my brethren and your brethren will not have died for nothing all those thousands of years ago putting down the Councilman and his accomplices. Mon'Yaran will finally bring us peace. Look alive, gentlemen." She said as she left the room, "Your vision of a united world will finally be realized. And all shall dream under the watchful gaze of our King."


	12. Chapter 11: Those Three Words

Author's Note: As of June 27th, 2016, the entire fanfic has been rewritten. That means this chapter, all that came before it, and all that follow it now contain different content that they did previously. You are strongly encouraged to go back and reread the entire fanfic from the beginning, as the revised continuity may confuse you if you jump in part of the way through.

* * *

"Ok, let's go over the situation." Phoney said as the craft neared Atheia. "We've only got a few minutes, maybe ten or fifteen, before their planes catch up with us. So we have to evacuate the city, or as much of it as we can, in that time. Thorn, you know the city best. Do you have any ideas?" Thorn pondered for a moment.

"We need to alert the guard and evacuate as many of the guards and civilians into the tunnels as we can. We've got a very, very small window of opportunity here, so when the plane arrives we'll split up into three teams. X'lish and Bartleby, you will drop off at the gates, and start spreading the word to meet inside the old tunnels outside the southern wall."

"Give the guard at the gate this amulet," Thorn said as she handed X'lish a silver amulet adorned with the Harvester crest, "And tell him to start evacuating civilians." Then go to the tunnels near the south tower. Wait there for about ten or so minutes, and then take anyone who showed up through the system to Sinner's Rock where the plane will be waiting. We'll ferry people from there in groups to the temple. Fone and I will drop off at the palace, get the council out, and tell as many guards as we can to gather up civilians and meet in the tunnels. The rest of you stay here on the ship and wait for us to return."

"We're coming up on the gates!" Shouted Jigafta from the cockpit. The ramp in the back of the dropship opened up as it turned around and neared land. Before it touched the ground, X'lish climbed onto Bartleby's back, and he bounded out of the entrance and onto the ground. The ramp closed back up and the ship took off again for the palace.

"What is the meaning of this?" Shouted one of the guards just beyond the gate as X'lish and Bartleby ran up. X'lish pulled out the amulet Thorn gave her and shoved it through the bars at him.

"This is a royal decree. There is an enemy fast approaching that is about to burn this city to the ground. You need to gather up every guard and civilian you can find and tell them to meet us in the entrance of the old tunnels in less than ten minutes to await evacuation, or everyone here will die."

"What…" The guard couldn't process what he was being told. X'lish sighed.

"I'm here on orders from the queen. If you don't do exactly as I say, everyone you know and care about will die, do you understand?" She turned to the guard staring agape at her on her side of the bars. "And you need to spread the word through the village outside the city. Meet in ten minutes outside the southern tunnels, or be left behind and slaughtered by the approaching army. Your choice." Both of the guards finally registered what was happening. They snapped a salute to X'lish and hurried off to accomplish their tasks. With that done, she turned to Bartleby.

"We need to get ourselves to those tunnels. Do you have any idea where they are exactly?" She asked the rat creature.

"Yeah, I do. I remember Phoney telling us about them on our way back to Boneville. Hop on." He gestured with his head to his back. X'lish complied, and he took off around the gate to the southern tower. He skidded to a halt near an inconspicuous looking oval shaped boulder. He nudged it aside with his head and it slid away to reveal a hole burrowing itself into the mountainside, the walls twisting and turning north toward Sinner's Rock.

"Not a moment too soon." X'lish muttered. People came running out after them through the gate. They were mostly townspeople, but littered among the two or three dozen people frantically crossing the plane between the wall and the mountainside were several armed Venu guards and about ten armed civilians. As they reached the entrance, X'lish quickly shuffled them inside. "Go! Go! Inside, Quickly!" She shouted. "Get up on top of Sinner's Rock and lay low! The Queen's transport will be arriving shortly to take you to safety!"

Just as the last of the first group crossed the threshold, another amassed at the gates. Suddenly the first of the enemy dropships de-cloaked above various points in the city, one right between the southern gate and the tunnel. X'lish motioned the oncoming group back with her hand, and pushed Bartleby back into the tunnel. Then she drew her sidearm from her belt and crouched down behind a rock and out of the enemy line of sight.

"What're you going to do?" Whispered Bartleby into X'lish's ear.

"I'm going to go get those people a ride. You make sure the group up on sinner's rock stays out of sight until the President comes back. Something tells me we won't be getting another batch." Without another word she sprang out from behind the rock and sprinted headlong at the four soldiers emerging from the exposed craft. Before any of them could react, she put a bullet square between each one of their eyes. By the time they hit the ground, she was almost inside the ship. Before the pilot realized what had happened just outside, X'lish put a bullet in his head too. She rushed back outside and motioned the awe-struck crowd onto the plane. As they tentatively crossed the open field X'lish grabbed the gear off of the four dead bone soldiers and threw the stripped body of the fifth out the ramp. When the humans had arrived at the plane, it was already prepared for takeoff.

"Get in and sit down if you don't want to die." Said X'lish as she prepared to activate the rotors. Scared out of their minds by their strange surroundings, they did as they were told and shuffled in aimlessly into the craft. They were packed in like a can of sardines, no one having the room to sit down. But by some miracle they all fit and the ramp closed. A few moments later the craft took off and blended in with the newly formed crowd of arriving dropships.

Bartleby took one last look at the gates before closing the tunnel entrance to see yet another group, this one made up of mostly guards, running across the field to him. He held open the boulder long enough to let them through before closing it behind him. He stopped the last soldier who came through before he could join the others at Sinner's Rock.

"Are any more coming?" He asked. The kid, he looked no older than nineteen, looked him in the eyes and started shaking uncontrollably. "Calm down, calm down. I won't eat you." Bartleby said. "What's your name?"

"M…My name is… Alex…" The guard said in between shakes.

"Listen Alex, I need to know if anyone else is coming so I can know whether or not to keep this entrance open. What's going on in the city?" Bartleby asked. Alex began to settle a little. Then he told his story.

"We had just gotten word to get the civilians to the tunnels when those… flying things appeared in the sky. They dropped out Bone creatures that started shooting people in the legs with these… things in their hands. They tried to prevent people from escaping, but they didn't kill anyone. They hit us hardest at the barracks, like they knew where we were all going to be. Those of us that knew about the evacuation started gathering up civilians and heading over here. The last thing I saw before I hit the planes was a group of about fifteen guards go down covering our escape, though I don't think the enemy saw us get here." His shakes had finally leveled out. "I don't think anyone else will be coming."

"You did well out there Alex. Go join the others and try to keep everyone out of sight until help arrives." Bartleby tried to sound as convincing as he could given the fact that, statistically, at least one person in Alex's family died at the hands of rat creatures five years ago. Alex nodded and ran off down the tunnel. Bartleby took one last look at the entrance before following him.

Eventually he and the more than seventy-five humans found comfortable positions on the rock face where they wouldn't be seen from, and started waiting. After a few minutes, he began to realize that the craft was late. Then the Palace collapsed in the distance, explosions going off left and right. He put himself on full alert. The seconds seemed like hours. His senses heightened beyond a sharpness he even knew he possessed, and by the time the craft descended from the sky he was a jittering wreck. It took him a few moments to realize that this new craft wasn't the enemies, but theirs, waiting to take them to safety. It took the humans a lot longer. They didn't stop mumbling and shaking until the two princes emerged, stoic and emotionless, from the interior of the plane. The sight of more humans seemed to calm the masses to a degree, enough to start ushering them onto the plane. They managed to fit Bartleby and most of the first group that had arrived onto the ship, despite the cramped conditions.

"We can only fit so many this run, unfortunately. We'll be back to pick up the rest of you shortly. Just sit tight." Rankyne said to the people still shivering on the cliff, including Alex. He looked the young guard in the eye. "Make sure these people stay out of sight, understand?" Alex nodded.

"Where's X'lish?" Caydmar asked as Jigafta raised the ramp behind him.

"She captured one of their dropships and took off with the second group toward the temple." Bartleby replied, relieved to see some people he recognized.

"A bit of good news then. At least we have something to show for this "evacuation" we planned." As Bartleby settled himself on the floor for the journey, he noticed that the ship hadn't gained any passengers other than the ones at Sinner's Rock.

"What happened at the palace?" Bartleby asked, an empty feeling gathering in his gut. He hadn't seen Fone anywhere on the plane, and it wasn't a space you could hide someone in, even if the person was Fone's size.

"We dropped off the people we managed to recover at the palace only a couple of minutes ago. We wouldn't' have been able to fit many refugees in otherwise." Said Rankyne as he leaned against the wall to make room. "We barely managed to get out a hundred and fifty people. Some rescue force we turned out to be."

"And did Fone stay with them?" Bartleby asked. The Princes stared at each other, than the ground, but didn't speak. They didn't have to. Through the door to the cockpit he could see Jigafta piloting while Phoney held his head in his hands, staring blankly at the floor. Bartleby felt sick. Out of the corner of his eye, he finally noticed Thorn crying in the corner, an expression of vague and removed shock on her face, as if she had failed to process something that just happened to her. Bartleby's heart dropped. He didn't even bother to wait for conformation from one of the princes. He already knew. He just leaned back against the now closed up ramp and began to cry. He had just lost another member of his family.

* * *

"We don't have a lot of time, so let's stick with getting the key figures out and spreading the word to everyone else. The Council should still be in session in the western tower, so I'll go there first." Thorn said as the plane came up on the palace courtyard.

"Right. You go find them and I'll go get the Commander in the eastern tower. And then we'll meet back up at the southern tower to get the Dreaming Council. Then we head back to the courtyard for pickup." Replied Fone. Both of them crouched at the edge of the ramp, facing out of the plane.

"It seems you committed that tour I gave you to memory." Thorn remarked as the ramp opened.

"Courtyard's coming up in three… two… one…" Jigafta shouted back at them from the cockpit. As he maneuvered the plane close enough to the ground. "Jump!" The two launched themselves from the dropship, landing in the courtyard grounds several feet below them. Instantly the ship lifted into the air and disappeared. Fone cast one last look at Thorn as they headed off in separate directions. There was no time for small talk with time working against them, but he couldn't help wanting to say so much to her. About everything he had felt in the last six years. He cast those thoughts aside and focused on getting to the commander. He darted off toward the south side of the courtyard, and found a wall perpendicular to the front of the palace. He followed it to a large door, wrenched it open, and found himself in a long hallway.

He tried to remember the layout of the palace from the brief time he had spent there. He ran down to the end of the hall into another room, took a left through the archway, and ran up the large spiral staircase. This was the Council of the Venu's tower, where all the leaders of the guard slept and convened for meetings. The western tower belonged to the Council of Nobles, and the southern held the Council of Dream Masters, all of whom they hoped to evacuate with the first group.

Fone made it to the top of the stairs to find the Venu Master meeting with some of his subordinates. One of the guards noticed him, and stopped Fone as he tried to walk over to interrupt the meeting.

"This is a private meeting, Master Sybron Brook has asked not to be disturbed. I'm going to have to ask you to wait downstairs until the meeting is over if you want to talk with him." The guard said. Fone brushed him aside, and ran up to the Master.

"Master Brook, my name is Fone Bone, though you probably already know that. I don't have time to explain in detail, but there is an enemy army about to burst down the gates and slaughter everyone in this city, and we need to get you out so we can co-ordinate a counterattack from safety." Fone blurted out. Everyone in the room turned to look at him. Sybron Brook responded with a chuckle.

"I don't know where you got this information, but rest assured we can turn back any enemy that comes to face us. Thank you for the gesture, but if what you say is true then we would have spotted this army of yours already."

"Not likely. They have flying machines that can turn invisible and weapons that can level entire forests in seconds. You can't fight them from such an exposed position. We have to retreat and get you and the outer Councils' members somewhere safe."

"Now you're just talking nonsense. Guards, please remove Mr. Bone from the tower. I have matters actually important to this city's safety to discuss with…" As Sybron glanced out the window, several of Glaian's dropship's de-cloaked over the city, one right outside the tower's window.

"Bloody stars!" One of the guards shouted as he notched an arrow in his bow. "What is that?" The guard fired the arrow through the window at the cockpit of the dropship. It plinked harmlessly against the reinforced glass, but did manage to get the pilot to notice them. In response, he casually swung the dropship around, pointing its open ramp toward the window.

"Get down!" Fone shouted as two fully armed bone soldiers crashed through the window. As they recovered their footing, Fone slammed one against the wall. Grabbing the man's sidearm, he aimed it at the other's head just as he brought his rifle up to Fone's. Fone ducked at the second soldier fired his rifle, and the bullet barely passed over Fone's head. Fone jolted back up and shot him in the kneecap. The first soldier recovered, and lunged at Fone to retrieve his sidearm. Fone stepped to the side and knocked the man on the head, sprawling him out on the ground. Then he shot them both through the head for good measure.

"Get to the courtyard now." He spoke over his shoulder to the humans, all of which were frozen with shock. "Hide and wait for pickup." They all scurried out of the room in formation, protecting Master Sybron as best they could. As soon as they all left the room, Fone threw the gun aside, collapsed to his knees, and threw up all over the floor.

"What just happened?" He muttered to himself. He had never done anything remotely like that before. Though it didn't feel wrong. He felt an intense rush of adrenaline as he stood back up and made his way down the staircase. He felt like he could take on the world. AS he descended the steps, he began to calm slightly, enough to center himself. As he got to the bottom of the stairs, he took off in the direction of the north tower and prayed that Thorn was still doing ok.

During all of this, Thorn had taken a similar path on the opposite side of the courtyard through a similar set of hallways, rooms, and corridors leading to the western tower, where the Noble Council was currently in session. She flew up the stairs at breakneck speed, and burst through the doors to the council chambers. Since Gram 'ma Ben was at Old Man's Cave and Gabriel was in the dungeon, only seven of the nine members of the Council of Nobles sat around the table at the top of the tower to discuss the events that had taken place at the party earlier that day: Four men, two of them in their mid-forties and two of them much older, and three women, one old haggish looking one and two in their mid-fifties. All of them looked severely shocked to see the Queen standing so disheveled in their presence. Thorn spoke quickly.

"All of you, this is a royal mandate: get downstairs and into the courtyard immediately. An enemy force is about to destroy the city, and you all need to hide there until I return with the Council of Dreams to summon transport." None of them spoke for a few seconds. Then the oldest woman, Delwyn Curtis, unleashed a tirade of pent up frustration at Thorn

"We have indulged your fantasies long enough, girl! You dream of faraway places and fantastical adventures, entertaining strange guests and engaging in conduct unbecoming of the Queen of the Valley. If you don't stop this ridiculous fantasizing about strange creatures and far off lands, then we'll…" Thorn snapped.

"That's enough of your ramblings, old cow!" Shouted Thorn, making everyone in the room jump a little. She was starting to get really angry. "I am the Queen of this Valley, and you will address me with the proper respect. Now if you don't do exactly as I say I could have you hanged for treason against the Crown. But I won't have to because when the enemy arrives they will do the work for me. Either outcome is fine with me, but if you want to live I suggest going to the courtyard." As she finished her sentence, the enemy dropships began to de-cloak around the city. "Damn it they're here early." She muttered as she looked out the window to see troops repelling into the streets. She turned back to address the nobles. "Members of the Council the enemy has broken through our defenses. I suggest you move to the courtyard to await transportation to a safe location." Seeing the smoke already rising from where the soldiers had begun their assault, the Council complied without another word. Thorn sprinted down the stairs ahead of them. Without checking to make sure they made it to the courtyard in one piece, she tore down the hallway to the north tower.

When she arrived, she heard shouting. Looking around the corner, she noticed several Bones carrying assault rifles walking out of the door to the northern tower dragging several members of the Dreaming Council behind them. Thorn eyed the crowd, but couldn't spot Mermie among them. Thorn found it strange an army that hated humans as much as Phoney said they did would take prisoners. Their legs seemed to have been shot, but other than that they were ok. Her relief caught in her chest when her servant girl, Lily, rounded the corner and stared face to face with the soldiers.

Without a word one of them raised his weapon and put a bullet in between her eyes before she could react. Thorn stopped breathing. A smirk erupted on the Bone's face, but one of the other Bones smacked him in the back of the head.

"What were you thinking?" He shouted as they walked down the corridor. "Glaian said to take them in alive so we could break them down first. What're you going and spoiling the fun for?" He asked.

"What's one human servant in the grand scheme of things, eh? I figure, kill one or two for fun, and no one will ever know…" Their conversation carried itself down the hallway as they dragged their prisoners to the palace's extensive gardens. Thorn began to breathe again. She collapsed on the floor, fatigued, and relieved that they weren't heading for the courtyard she had sent all of the Council Members to. Her relief was short lived.

She stood back up and attempted to find Fone, but as she turned the corner she was greeted by the barrel of the gun of a lone Bone soldier, one of the larger ones more akin in size to Smiley than Fone or Phoney. He motioned with his gun down the corridor the other soldiers had gone. When she didn't move, he raised the butt of his gun.

"Move down the corridor, human wench, or I'll break your legs and drag you by the hair. I'm fine either way." He began to bring the butt of his gun down, but stopped short of her frozen face with a loud crunching sound. He fell over, and behind him was standing Fone, holding a chunk of wall that he had used to bludgeon the back of the other Bone's head.

"And don't you speak to her like that again!" He shouted at the unconscious body. He immediately dropped the impromptu weapon and ran over to Thorn. "Are you ok? Did he hurt you at all?" He asked as she leaned against the wall trying to recover from the shock.

"I'm fine." She replied, "Though that was a little startling. Thanks for the concern though." She sat for a moment in silence before speaking again. "I think we should head back. I saw the Council of Dreams get taken away by soldiers, so there's nobody else to try to evacuate. We need to get back to the courtyard and signal Phoney."

"What about rescuing the Council? With a gun and the element of surprise on our side, it's possible." Fone nodded to the gun lying on the ground next to the unconscious Bone.

"No, we'd just be going to our own deaths. We'd be better off keeping the people we've already gathered out of enemy hands, not killing ourselves trying to rescue more." She stood back up. Before either of them could speak again, the radio of the unconscious Bone sparked to life.

"Attention all troops, this is a level one directive. Cease all actions at the palace and pull our forces out of that area. Glaian wants us to send the humans a strong message, so all available ordinance is being retasked to bring that palace down on top of their heads. Godspeed, brothers and sisters." Thorn and Fone looked at each other. Immediately the palace started shaking as explosions sounded off below and to the sides of them. Thorn was knocked down, but scrambled back up to her feet and began making her way back toward the courtyard.

"Fone Bone! The Palace is collapsing! We need to get out of here!" Thorn shouted as she ran down the hallway. About halfway down she stopped and turned around. "What's keeping you? We have to move!" The sound of the stone smashing and the fire roaring almost drowned out her words.

"We can't just leave them! We need to go back!" Fone wouldn't move.

"We don't have a choice, they've already been caught! We need to get out before those troops circle back!" Thorn ran back to pick up Fone. The ground started to collapse behind them. "Shit!" She exclaimed, and Fone, concluding that they would die if they lingered any longer, ran up to join her. The two of them took off for their lives. The fire close on their heels, rocks smashing from every direction. Fone glanced to his left and saw the wall shatter inwards, beyond it nothing but a sea of fire. He started running harder. They made their way through the passageways and halls of the palace, until they reached the Throne room. Thorn sprinted hard and fast for the door, but Fone paused. He had seen this before in his dreams. He had seen the ceiling give way, collapsing on Thorn right as they leave the building. He didn't have time to lose.

He ran at her in a mad dash, all his muscled kicking into overdrive. He couldn't lose her. Not her. Not after everything that had happened. He hadn't even told her that he loved her. His resolve burned behind his eyes. She turned around and looked back at him right before she left the entrance, urging him to cross the room quickly, not noticing the ceiling finally start to buckle. He had only seconds. He ran harder. He jumped at her, scrambling to save her, and shoved her out of the way at the last second, catching the look of surprise on her face as the ceiling came down. The next thing he noticed was the pain.

Thorn got up off the ground, startled that Fone would shove her like that. Then she noticed that the entrance had collapsed. Caught halfway inside it, right where she had been standing, crushed under several tons of stone, was Fone. She ran over to him, unable to comprehend what was happening.

His legs and part of his lower torso were pinned, possibly crushed entirely, underneath the collapsed ceiling. He grimaced in pain as he tried to shift the stones in vain to give himself some measure of relief.

"Fone, are you ok? Can you hear me?" She asked him as she began working, tearing frantically at a wall of stone trying to dislodge him. It was a stupid question, but at least if he kept talking that meant that he was alive.

"Yeah." He responded weakly, "My legs don't seem to hurt much, though I can't really feel them either. Can't tell if that's a good thing or a bad thing." At least he was still alive. That meant she still had a chance to free him. She kept at it. Fone noticed what she was doing, and reached out to her hands, grabbing them gently. She stopped working, and looked directly at him.

"You have to get out of here." He said, as she slowly shook her head, trying to deny what was happening. "Any minute this wall is going to come down and then I'm dead. There's nothing I can do about that, but you don't have to die with me. Get the Councils to safety. Plan a counter attack. Win."

"I'm not leaving you here to die." She said. "I've lost too much today to lose you too. I'm getting you out of here and we're going to live to see another day together. Besides, you never did tell me what you were going to say here, on this spot, earlier this evening." She was beside herself. She couldn't lose him to. Not him. Not now. Not after what had happened. Not after…

"You have to leave. You have a duty to your people that goes far beyond my life. Go live and fight for their freedom."

"No! I'll not leave you to die in my place!" She shouted as she went back to her work.

"You have to go, I'll not watch you die here." He said, urging her to save her own life.

"Neither will I!"

"Get out of here!"

"No!" She shouted at the top of her lungs. She stopped working and stared at the ground. "I'm not worth it." She muttered. "I'm not worth this. I'm not worth dying for, so I'll be damned if I let someone die so I can live."

"Yes you are, now go and do your duty as a Queen." He said, trying to reassure her of her worth, while staring worriedly at the wall looming above him.

"No, I'm not. Knowing me these last six years has only ever cost you. I've inadvertently put you and your cousins in danger multiple times. I'm short sighted, quick-tempered, volatile at times, and prone to violent and uncontrollable mood swings. I've berated you more times than I care to remember, even drew my sword against you at one point. I've constantly misjudged you and your abilities, and relied too little on the help you constantly tried to provide instead of being a good friend. I'm not worth the fires you had to go through because of me, and I'm not worth dying for." She looked him in the eyes. "So why then? Why?"

"Because I don't care about any of that. To me, you'll always be a kind, compassionate, comforting, helpful, caring, and beautiful woman who loves life, nature, and her friends more than anything. Any that's what made knowing you worth whatever trials I had to endure. It's what made you worth dying for. And it's why…" Minutes from death and he still couldn't tell her. But he finally said to hell with holding back, to hell with fear. This was his last chance. Those three words it had taken him six years to say rang true in every fiber of his being. "It's why… It's why I love you. I always have, since they day we met. More than anything. I love you more than life itself. And I will not watch the woman I've loved for six years die before my eyes." He mustered the last of his strength and made his best attempt to prop himself up under the circumstances. "So you survive, and you fight back. Snd you look Glaian in the eye and make my death mean something. More than it already does." Thorn took a few steps back, trying to process information. In that time, Fone looked up and saw a section of wall break off, heading straight for him.

"I guess this is it." He said, as death closed in on him. "My only regret is not saying that sooner. I love you, Thorn. I always will. Goodbye." She realized what was happening too late. The section of wall cascaded upon him. Time moved in slow motion. She could barely register any thoughts. The dropship appeared in the sky. The debris was moments away from his head. She screamed. She couldn't hear her own words. She collapsed to the ground. At some point she began to cry.

Hands reached out to grab her. She saw humanoid shapes through her tears, ushered onto the dropship. A small white creature ran up to her, and started asking questions she couldn't hear. She looked back at the spot where he had died. She couldn't take it. Phoney, yes, that was his name, continued to ask frantically for him. Fone. She wandered over to a corner and sat down. She cried until she passed out, though she didn't know when that was. As she transitioned away from conscious though, certain revelations nestled themselves in the back of her mind. He had loved her. Since they had met. And she had ignored him for years. And now he was gone. And now, looking back as she faded into tortured sleep, she realized that she might have loved him too. And then everything went black.

* * *

"Did you feel that, Lorimar? That colossal blast through the dreaming? The last time I felt something that powerful was when the other Nightmare Entity, the Nacht, was destroyed. It seems your plan failed. How… unsurprising." Vokelle sat in the chambers of Deren Guard with the other council members.

"For once I agree with Vokelle. You have constantly disappointed us. You claimed the Morudagni Nightmare Entity could solve all of our problems, but now it is as clear as day: it has died, and with it the Spark that you do wisely entrusted to it." Quimrath coiled up, as if he was preparing to strike.

"And now we have nowhere to run. No plan. No real defense. No anything. The enemy barks at our front door, and closes in on Mon'Yaran's sanctuary. And now you have failed to deliver us the salvation you promised. Give me one reason I shouldn't just kill you now?" Korin's nostrils began smoking.

"Because He isn't dead. That shockwave we all felt through the dreaming wasn't as chaotic as the death of the Nacht. If you listened close enough, you would have felt a pattern, a harmonious ping that accompanied it. This has all gone according to plan. That ping you heard amidst the torrent of energy he unleashed was not his death rattle. It was his dreaming eye." Rebutted Lorimar calmly.

"Are you suggesting that..?"

"Yes I am. That shockwave wasn't his death, but rather his birth. His awakening. The opening of his dreaming eye. The Spark's handiwork. And that puts my plan right on schedule. All we have to do is wait, because if we do, the Falsely Oneiric Nightmare Entity, the one the Great Red Dragon calls "Fone Bone" will accomplish our goals for us. He will destroy the Councilman, complete Mon'Yaran's soul, and bring about the everlasting Dream in less time than we could have hoped. Kill me, gentlemen? You should be thanking me. I just won us this war before it even got started."

Lorimar smiled to herself, amused by the Council of Dragons she had constantly bewildered since her time here. She looked back over her shoulder, in the direction of the Palace, and wondered to herself how much time it would take for the Spark to repair the damage to his body. Miles and miles away, in the ruins of the palace courtyard, a bright light shone through the countless piles of debris, and faint laughter echoes off of the ruined walls.


	13. Chapter 12: Complications

Author's Note: As of June 27th, 2016, the entire fanfic has been rewritten. That means this chapter, all that came before it, and all that follow it now contain different content that they did previously. You are strongly encouraged to go back and reread the entire fanfic from the beginning, as the revised continuity may confuse you if you jump in part of the way through.

* * *

"The good news is that we've managed to stave off attacks and keep the enemy occupied in the first sector. We've beat their machines to a bloody stalemate near the doors, and it looks like that's where this conflict is going to be for a while. Luckily Glaian's gathering of all the humans into the one camp has made collecting energy extremely efficient, and we should have enough for the dream to reach the Sun and reach full power once it's active. Now all that remains is to cover the Black Wastes with the dreaming and finish the pylon network so that the conversion can begin." Lorimar finished giving her report on the progress made in the last two months. The entire Dragon Council seemed extremely impressed with actual results. Vokelle was naturally the first to state the obvious.

"How long before we cover the Black Wastes exactly? Do we have time enough before the unrest breaks the crystal in Hoken Guard?" He was always the quickest to point out the flaws in any plan.

"The thing is, in order to accelerate the expansion, Mon'Yaran had to lower his output to the prison significantly, which could put projections for the Councilman's release way ahead of schedule, though the expansion and construction of the pylons necessary to complete the plan will be done in a few weeks with the extra boost."

"This is an outrage!" Shouted Quimrath. Normally he was the composed one, but months of Lorimar drip-feeding them half-truths and carefully shrouded plans had finally overwhelmed him. "You're telling me that dragons, good dragons, my brothers and sisters, are dying to defend this stronghold, when the object of most value here isn't even needed by the enemy?" He was furious. Lorimar attempted to diffuse that fury.

"They don't know that they don't need it to free him, so the more resources they throw at us, the less they can throw at Phoncible's resistance, and the more hope the people can have, boosting morale and slowing the Councilman's release, giving us more time to complete the plan and set up the final catalyst. It's how we've always done things."

"And yet this course of action, of placing all of the real work on the Crown and the people of Atheia, has nearly cost us everything twice! Once when the Pawans defected and awakened the Locust, almost destroying Mon'Yaran's strongest power source, and again when the same conflict awoke a Nightmare Entity within our own ranks that almost collapsed our entire network! How can you be so sure you can entrust the final stages of the plan to a bunch of simpleton humans and a broken lab experiment?"

"First of all, the awakening of the locust was necessary. It exposed traitors within our own ranks like the Nacht and it eliminated some of the major weapons from the Councilman's arsenal for when he eventually reawakened. Second, though many of my brothers and sisters died at his hands, the Nacht's involvement was also necessary, for it gave us an excuse under the treaty not only to put the Spark back together, but to retain possession of it and use it to undo the seals on the Locust's former prison, allowing Mon'Yaran to expand and our plan to continue. Lastly we can trust them because the Nightmare Entity will not be doing our work, the Spark will. It will just be using his incomplete soul as a vessel and an amplifier so that it can act as a complete catalyst."

"Speaking of which, how is he progressing?" Asked Korin. Throughout the meeting, Korin kept mostly to himself, preoccupied with thoughts about the war, so this sudden outburst surprised Lorimar.

"He's progressing smoothly, and is almost ready to rejoin the fight. My only concern is that, if he were to discover his true nature too soon, he might reject the soul layer filling and breakdown the entire plan altogether, which is why it is imperative we keep him away from the Councilman until the process is complete." The council finally seemed satisfied with the report. Lorimar felt she was no longer needed.

"Gentlemen, I must now take my leave. Mon'Yaran calls me back to him, and I cannot ignore one of the King's summons. Just keep the enemy away from the key until I return with instructions for the next phase of the plan." Lorimar, dissolved herself into small organic particles and floated away on the slight wind blowing in from the entrance. As she left the chamber however, she failed to notice a figure in the corner of the outside room. It was Taneal, pretending not to listen and contemplating everything she had just overheard. Out of the shadows a small red dragon approached her. She whispered to it.

"Tell Red it's worse than we thought. They seem to be moving around a lot of pieces for a big plan. I'll need a few more days, but I'm close to finding out what their true goal is. Also, at this point, I'm having a hard time deciding who is the lesser of the two evils. I'll have more when they next meet." It committed everything she said to memory, and slinked back into the shadows to deliver her message. She hoped it reached him before things took a turn for the much, much worse, and they all ran out of time.

* * *

"Admiral, it has been two months since the supposed death of the President, and we've received no transmissions from any member of your government other than you in that time. We are forced to believe that Glaian has cemented total control over your country, and more importantly your armed forces, and we should be talking to his administration now instead of yours." Said the Rhumenese Councilman on the Security Council of the United Human Federation, an international peacekeeping body of nations from the two human inhabited continents. This coalition was meeting with Admiral Satranik Haenkos at a summit to deal with the Glaian problem. They were currently meeting on the Wadralian "mainland" of Atea, the largest island in the many island chains and atolls that span the Wadral Sea, and capital of the Wadralian Democracy. The meeting, called by called by Admiral Haenkos after it became clear fighting would not cease any time soon, was supposed to establish a coalition force to help retake the Bone's lost territory, but quickly descended into petty squabbling, bureaucratic politics, and nonsense. The Admiral was not happy.

"The President is dead. Zachary Holdsten, the Vice president, is dead. Aaron Findrel, Daniel Deyavara, Julius Freeman, and the rest of the cabinet are all dead. The Speaker of the house is being publically executed tomorrow, the President of the Senate was yesterday, and the Attorney General and the Chief Justices have all either gone missing or been slotted for execution in the next week. And on top of that, we've lost most of our military commanders, including General Victor Bone. I, the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and highest ranking military officer left, am next in line for the presidency, so I'd appreciate it if you took me seriously. I am the ruler of my country, or what's left of it, and I need your help. We've managed to hold onto the coastline, and the large industrial centers we have there have prevented them from deploying their new plasma weaponry, but we're barely scraping by. If you can spare fifty thousand troops, several hundred fighter jets, and as many high impact explosives as you can get your hands on, we can retake the Western Provinces and drain their supply lines, backing them into a corner and giving us the advantage again." Only the Wadralian ambassador and the Rhumenese Councilman were present at this hour, the rest of the Council was at recess, and she thought now could be a good time to speak privately with the representatives of her only two real potential allies.

"I'm sorry, Admiral, but we cannot spare so many forces to gain nothing but renewed Bone dominance of the Eastern hemisphere, especially when my country is just recovering from the devastating attack on our power grid. We would prefer to settle things with this "Glaian Nagratek" outside of the battlefield."

"You know he won't see it that way. Letting him control the Continent is exchanging a peacekeeping force for a belligerent madman. He hates humans, and he won't stop with conquering the Bone provinces. He'll come after everything, burn your cities and your countries to the ground in spite for what the Wadralians did to his clan in the war. If he is allowed to get back on his feet after exhausting so many resources so quickly, the might of his armies will more than outmatch the entirety of the Federation's armed forces, and you know it."

"I won't be taking orders from the self-proclaimed "ruler" of a nonexistent country. If and when he comes for us, you can be sure that we'll put him in his place. But we'll not put the lives of our troops on the line on foreign shores to help repair your wounded pride. I'm going to fetch the rest of the Council so we can end this pointless summit as soon as possible." With that, the Rhumenese Councilman walked out the door to the assembly hall.

"If you don't help me now, you'll be signing your own death warrants!" She shouted after him. "Prick." She muttered under her breath.

"With all due respect," interjected the Wadralian Ambassador hesitantly, "Wadralia would love to come to your aid, but our people won't support another foreign invasion into that death zone. Our forces won't be able to stay there long-term, and our people won't like sending our troops to a land they can die in just by standing and breathing long enough. They'll need something to rally behind, a motive we can sell them on before we can start to send troops and supplies. Now if you can make certain guarantees then we could…"

"I can't make any guarantees. My country has nothing it can offer you but a chance to strike this enemy while they're down."

"I can think of something. In the accord to end the Wadralian War, signed a thousand years ago, we agreed to cede to you the Cartonal Islands and the Je'iorad Atoll, our staging posts for the invasion. For years now the current administration has been negotiating for their return, since you seem to lack a use for them other than preventing a nuclear attack that isn't coming. If you return them to us, we can get you all the help you want. Our people want their lands back, Madam President, and they'll go wherever they have to and kill whoever they have to in order to get them back."

"It's true we have no real use for them. We moved all of the counter-missile batteries from the islands weeks ago to turn back the plasma cascades Glaian was using to wipe out our troops we had stationed farther inland. In fact they're the only things keeping him from entirely destroying the Western coastal divisions with conventional missiles. That having been said, I can't just give you back your islands. Glaian could use a move like that as ammunition against us in the media, claiming "we're bowing to human demands and repeating mistakes and showing weakness" and all that other bullshit." She thought for a moment, and hit upon a grand strategy. "But if you offer humanitarian and military aid to us "out of the goodness of your hearts", then we could decide to "reward your kindness" by returning the islands. Then we both look like the good guys, Glaian's claims get undermined, we get our country, and you get your islands." The Ambassador thought this over for a moment.

"I think that could work. I'll contact my superiors about it and see what they think, but I'm more than confident they'll jump at the chance to get back lost territory and make themselves look better for re-election. You may be getting human aid after all." He said before walking out the same door the Rhumenese Councilman had used. Admiral Haenkos was left alone with her thoughts, which kept drifting to the events of the past two months surrounding the President and Glaian. He hadn't been sighted since his big speech in Argus City, so she began wondering where he'd disappeared to. As if by magic, the answer presented itself. She got a call on her cell. It was her assistant.

"Talk to me." She said as the flicked open the phone and held it to her ear.

"Madam President, there's something coming in on every broadcast station in the country. You need to see it immediately."

"I think we're getting it here too." The large screen in the center of the assembly floor flickered to life. "I'll have to call you back." She hung up that phone and turned her attention to the screen with Glaian's imposing face on it.

"They must have hacked a large number of telecomm satellites to reach as many people as possible." The Y'threni Foreign Minister announced as she walked through the doors with the rest of the presiding body of the UHF. She turned to face the screen just as Glaian was about to speak. "Now let's hear what the man of the hour has to say, shall we?" The room fell silent as Glaian began his speech.

"People of the Great Nagratek Empire, I appear before you after two months of silence to bring you an update on our ongoing struggle against our natural enemy. Across the deserts of our ancestors we have found a previously undiscovered group of humans, and with them the wellspring of human wretchedness. And as I speak we are rooting it out and destroying it here in the heartland of human aggression. But we cannot do it alone. They are moving forces against us, invisible forces. A devastating new weapon that could destroy everything we know and love. A power, one that you cannot see or hear or taste or touch or feel. A fundamental energy that infects the mind, pries open the deepest rooted parts of our instinct, and renders us docile, pliable, waiting to be conquered. And it is expanding toward our territory at an ever accelerating rate." The camera panned out, showing the ruins of a destroyed city. Kneeling behind Glaian was a man wearing a green hood pulled down over his face with his hands bound in front of him.

"This man," Glaian continued as he approached his captive, "is one of their instigators. A Dreaming Master, they call him. His thoughts, his dreams, fuel this… field knocking on our door, threatening our way of life and our independence. But no amount of prayer can save him now." He pulled out a gun and wrenched the man's hood off, revealing an old man with a long white beard and golden nose and ear rings. His eyes stared at Glaian with a desperate defiance Satranik had never seen before in a person. Without a word Glaian put the gun against the man's head and pulled the trigger, scattering his brains across the ground. The camera panned back to Glaian.

"Luckily, my men and I came prepared. We removed that primal part of our brains that the humans prey upon from our bodies, and now stand against our ancient enemy unmatched and unstoppable. And we urge you to do the same. Their weapon has no counter effect, no way of reversal. Except for despair. Driving the humans who feed it the power it needs to expand and conquer to the depths of despair, so that their dreams might become nightmares, and their power rendered useless. But we may not be able to stop it from reaching you, my beloved people, before we can cut the head off of the proverbial snake and show the humans the depths of our wrath. Which is why I am instituting a mandatory government program. Each and every citizen is to submit his or her self to a surgical operation to remove this accursed weakness from their bodies. Only when we have purged away the lies of the humans and the House of Bone will we be able to move forward as a species. Do what I ask, what is right, what is necessary, and together we will strike back at the humans who have kept us oppressed for over a thousand years!" He shouted into the camera before it cut out. The whole group was speechless.

She couldn't believe it. Weeks of planning a counterattack, devising strategy after strategy, carefully plotting weaknesses in the enemies lines, and he was just going to focus all of his resources on brain surgery rather than fighting her forces? Well fine then. He just handed her a golden opportunity to destroy him. All she needed was a bit of human help. Before she could suggest this stratagem however, the Wadralian Ambassador hit her with a curveball.

"I can think of one other guarantee you can make to the entire UHF." He said after everyone overcame the shock of what they just saw. "If Glaian's claims are true, and there really are lands where humans can live on your continent, then we'll have to demand that you turn them over to our governments for colonization."

* * *

"Well that went much better than expected." Archibald mused as he and Glaian made their way back to ruined building that served at their headquarters. "You probably convinced most of the people back home."

"But most isn't good enough." Retorted Glaian. "If even one Bone gets their "dreaming eye" wrenched open by the human's "dreaming" like you say they could, then who knows what our enemies in that mountain stronghold of theirs could unleash."

"You know not everyone is going to go for it. To some, especially Admiral Haenkos, you probably sounded insane." As they entered the building, Archibald momentarily detached his newly constructed robotic hand and shook his wrist out.

"Which is why I made it mandatory. And when I defeat her forces, I'll force her surviving men to undergo the same process. She'll thank me when she sees what the humans were trying to accomplish here."

"Speaking of the humans, why gather them into camps like that? It only makes it easier for Phoney's resistance force hiding up in the mountains to free them."

"That was the whole point. I'm trying to sow chaos, throw the humans into despair, and you cannot have despair without hope. They will hold onto hope until their dying breaths, until finally, as they expire, they will know the depths of hopelessness. And when they do, we will generate massive amounts of negative energy, maybe even open up that crystal cell we found. And when that opens, we'll finally have some answers to all of our questions."

"Speaking of the cell, I should probably get going. The science team and I were going to head over to the prison/temple complex and see if we couldn't observe anything more about the chrysalis now that whatever's keeping it shut seems to be weakening."

"Safe travels my friend. And before you leave, could you send in the new generals? I wanted to brief them on their assignments personally and to assure myself of the skill level of the ones who will be combating the legendary Admiral Satranik Haenkos."

"Sure thing." Archibald said as he left the building. They had set up in the former Dragon Temple on the western side of Main Street, just outside of the palace gates. He took one last look at the ruins before he headed over to the former Merchant's Guild Tower right across the street to fetch the new generals when he thought he saw a flash of light. He decided it was nothing and continued on his way. Up at the ruins of the palace courtyard, a bone white hand burst through the rubble.


	14. Chapter 13: Resurgence

Author's Note: As of June 27th, 2016, the entire fanfic has been rewritten. That means this chapter, all that came before it, and all that follow it now contain different content that they did previously. You are strongly encouraged to go back and reread the entire fanfic from the beginning, as the revised continuity may confuse you if you jump in part of the way through.

* * *

He existed. Nothing more, nothing less. He simply was. Surrounded by a void of all-consuming blackness. He felt the weight of the universe on is mind, on his soul. And something more. He felt connected. He existed as everything and in between everything. He was the void of eternity, the soul of the universe, and the outer thoughts of all creation. And then he saw a light.

This light felt warm. But it also felt wrong. Like it wasn't supposed to be there, a permutation on the perfect nothingness of the void. It wrenched at something deep within his soul and began to pull. He drifted toward the light, and as he left the void for this speck of terrible beauty, he saw flashes of time. A crumbling building, a crying woman, and a small white creature smiling as he met his demise. This creature seemed familiar to him. It was him. His… individual.

The light continued to pull at him as he drifted away from the cold of the void, and he began to remember. He remembered who he was, what had happened to him, and where he was going. Then he saw more flashes, more captured moments of time. But this time of things altogether unfamiliar to him. First he saw a white metallic giant, and behind it a vast army gazing up at the burning sun. Upon the giant's head stood a familiar personage, one he had known all his life, but could not quite place in his current state. Then he saw a blue light, and at its center a silhouette, jagged and angular, as if of stone, with a face that filled him with both crippling terror and repressive calm. The figure stretched out its hands and the earth shook and the sky darkened. Next he saw the Crown of Horns, cracked and shining a golden light from its core. The light formed a vague silhouette, almost like that of the one in the blue light, but less harsh, more inviting, more soothing. Lastly he saw himself, but not himself. This visage he saw spewed forth a honey-golden radiance that felt warm, like the light. But behind his eyes he could sense a cold malice, reminiscent of the void.

As he reached the light, he turned one last time to the void, as if the bid it farewell. And he saw something unfamiliar. The light, with its honey-golden sheen, had filled the void, and cracked it in two. The two halves split apart, condensing and forming shards of crystal. And these shards, desperately trying to reach each other, were cast apart by their light, and they disappeared through cracks in the space between spaces.

Confused, he turned back to the light and saw himself. But it was the same self that he had witnessed in the images. The self that was not self. It reached out to him, and he hesitated. For behind this false him he saw two forms. The first was a being jagged, angular, and vast: the terrible form of blue light and raw power from his visions. The other was a crystal, smooth, round, and small, colored a honey-gold, the same as the light. These shapes shimmered, and the air between them crackled like fire. And then the not-self smiled at him and spoke

"It's time to wake up. We both have a job to do, you know." Then it grabbed his hand, and in one swift, rushing movement dragged him through the light.

Fone took his first breath in months. He tried to sit up but his muscles refused to move. His spine ached and his limbs screamed, almost as if they had been used non-stop for a long period of time. As soon as his eyes started to see again, he guessed that was the case.

He was no longer buried, like he thought he would be. He was staring straight up at an open sky. Slowly mobility returned to his muscles, and he began the process of sitting up. As he looked himself over, he noticed that his hands, arms, and legs were covered in scratches and shallow scars, but he showed no signs of having his spine and lower body crushed by giant falling debris.

As his mind struggled to cope with the fact that he was still alive he surmised that he must have survived the debris and gone into a catatonic state much like the ones his ancestors used to induce to survive for weeks at a time in a desert with no food or water, and he hallucinated in a near death experience while his body slowly dragged itself out of the rubble. His theory still didn't explain how his spine magically realigned itself, or the fact that he was quite certain that, whatever had happened to him, he definitely wasn't alive for part of it, but he would have to figure all of that out later.

He found enough strength to stand up and looked around at the sight arrayed before him. Atheia lay in shambles. The palace was leveled, and as far as he could see the whole inner city was being used as the enemy's base camp. Equipment lay everywhere, jutting from buildings and sidewalks, tents lined the streets, and armor-clad bones walked around every inch on patrol. Just over the walls he thought he could see several sets of chain-link fence, and small figures milling about the town being watched by guards on the wall. It seemed a smart enough plan, keep the humans outside where they can't put a dagger in your throat but contained and near so you can use them as hostages. And if the town was encased in fence, then odds were they already found his car.

He stretched his limbs and tried to figure out the lay of the land. He needed to figure out where they put his car, and somehow needed to get up to the rat creature temple without them noticing him leaving the city. He decided that best method of searching for the car would be to blend in with the soldiers, though he didn't think that would help him much when it came time to leave. But before he could work out a plan in his head, he was hit with a wave of nausea. He stumbled and clutched his head, struggling to regain his balance. Then he was hit by a splitting headache as well.

After the sensations passed and Fone regained his balance, he felt a strong pull toward the eastern gate. Without really thinking, he began to walk to it. Though when he left the palace gates, he realized that he would need to keep to the shadows to avoid the patrols. So he stuck to the alleyways and backstreets that crisscrossed their way around the city that the conquerors hadn't had time to fully explore. Eventually found himself staring at the eastern gate, and the camp outside it which seemed to be harboring a large amount of vehicles. He noticed that no one was watching the inside of the gate, so he approached it in between patrols with ease.

Realizing that it would look suspicious if a bone not wearing any identifiable markings were to be seen just casually walking up to a vehicle without permission, he refrained from going through the gate. But then he spotted a large tent that sat perpendicular to and touching the right side of the wall and that continued on to meet with the makeshift vehicle storage area, and got an idea.

He crawled on the ground through the gate, hugging the wall, until he reached the tent. Then, watching the sentries he could see at the top of the wall to make sure none of them looked at him, he rolled under the lip of the tent into the inside. To his relief, it was not occupied. It was a storage tent, storing, as best as he could tell, spare parts or overflow from the storage inside the walls. He stopped for a moment to marvel at the logistics of forming an army, overthrowing a government, and then moving that entire operation across a desert and into an occupied city, all without a clearly visible command structure.

He walked over to the other side of the tent and rolled under the lip into the lot they had fenced off and stored their ground vehicles in. He lay against the tent out of sight and sized up his options. Several tanks, some mobile Surface to Air Missile batteries, and lots of Armored Personnel Carriers. He decided to go for one of the APC's. He spotted a tent at the edge of the lot and surmised that it was the place they kept all of the keys. After making sure none of the sentries were looking at him, he dashed over to it and slid under the tent flap. This time, however, he was not so lucky.

Standing over him was one of the taller bones pointing a gun at his head. Fone recognized him as the one who had tried to take Thorn captive.

"I know you." He said. "You're that author who wrote the books about this place. What are you doing here?" Fone didn't really have an answer, but before he could think of one, some primal fight or flight response took over. He kicked up at the man's hand, knocking the gun to the ground, and with his other leg swept him to the ground as well. He hit the ground so hard it knocked him out cold. Fone scurried up and stared at his handiwork. He had no idea that he knew how to fight, much less to fight like that. He added his miraculous new skills to the list of things to think about later, and looked around for some keys. He found a box locked with a secure looking heavy duty padlock. He rummaged around the cloths of the unconscious bone until he found the key.

Opening the box he discovered several trays stacked on top of one another, all containing compartmentalized boxes that held a large number of keys each. He picked out one of the ones on the top labeled APC 2A13 and closed the box again. He walked back outside, crouching to stay out of sight, and found an APC with 2A13, among other tags and information, stenciled onto one of the side panels. He tried the key, and sure enough it worked. He also discovered that rudimentary cloaking technology came standard in all of Glaian's vehicles, and soon he activated it and had driven off the lot and off in the direction of the Northern part of the Valley.

* * *

He drove for several hours, through the Great Stone Basin and Upper Pawa to avoid the gorge system that Tanen Guard was a part of, before cutting back through some abandoned farmland. As he did, he spotted the Eastern Mountains in the distance. Eventually he came upon a small farmstead. There was no one around, and the whole place seemed eerily quiet. Against his better judgement, he got out of the vehicle and entered the farmhouse. It looked deserted at first glance, but he decided to have a look around. It wasn't a big house, only a kitchen and a couple of bedrooms on the second floor. It reminded him a bit of Gran'ma Ben's old farmhouse. He was just about to leave when he noticed a cellar door sticking out from the side of the house. It also had what looked like a relatively high tech padlock on it, obviously placed there by the soldiers that raided this farm. He grabbed the hook off of the front of his vehicle and looped it and the padlock together. Then he backed up the vehicle until the doors on the cellar broke off.

He walked over to see what he had uncovered to discover about twelve frightened children all huddled in a corner, with a frightened teenage boy standing in between them and the cellar's entrance brandishing a knife.

"Hello. My name is-" Fone began. The boy cut him off.

"Stay back!" He shouted, his hands and voice shaking as he pointed the knife in Fone's direction.

"Whoa, calm down, I'm here to help." Fone said as reassuringly as he could. He put his hands out in front of him and advanced down the cellar steps slowly.

"I'm warning you!" The boy shouted at him. One of the children began to cry. Another just started whimpering. "Get back!"

"Okay, okay, I can see that you're serious." Fone said as he backed up the steps. "So I'm just going to sit right here until you calm down a bit. Does that sound good to you?" Fone sat down on the first step. The boy continued staring at him with the knife. The children, noticing the lack of movement or action of any kind, stopped crying, and instead just stared at Fone in terrified silence. The boy took a step toward Fone, who didn't move or react. The boy took another step, and eventually he was close enough to touch Fone.

"I could stab you right now." He said. "End it right here on these steps." He brought the knife closer to Fone's face.

"But you won't." He retorted. Though he stared the boy in the eyes, showing his passive but firm determination, he didn't move.

"You don't know that." Said the boy, his voice on the edge of panic. He pressed the knife into Fone's flesh.

"I do." He said, gently moving the knife away from him with the tip of a finger. "For two reasons: You aren't a killer, and I'm not the bad guy. My name is Fone Bone, and I'm a great friend of the Queen's. More importantly I'm here to help you. So why don't you put the knife down and tell me what happened?" The boy looked into his eyes and saw the truth of Fone's words. He lowered the knife and slumped onto the floor. He cupped his head in his hands and regained his composure. After a few moments he raised his head and spoke.

"Are you really him? The one who killed the Locust?" He asked.

"Last time I checked, yeah."

"Thank the stars. I thought we were done for. My name is Tom Elm. My family runs this small turnip farm. It's not the most comfortable lifestyle, but after what I saw with the Nacht, a life of nice, quiet farming didn't seem so bad."

"You're the one that stopped the Nacht?" Asked Fone. He sized Tom up for a second. "Pretty good for a kid."

"Mostly it was the power of the Spark that stopped him. And I'm not a kid, I'm fourteen. Well I was twelve when we stopped the Nacht, but that's beside the point. Two months ago Atheia fell to the Bones and their machines. There were a lot of scared people with children running from the destruction. And so, to protect their families, a lot of people showed up at our doorsteps with children in tow, saying this was the most out of the way place they could think of to hide. We accommodated them as best we could, but the Bones found the farm eventually. I took all the kids and hid in the basement. Unfortunately for us though, they found us. But instead of killing us or dragging us into their big camp in the city, they decided to lock us down here to break our parent's spirits or something. That was almost two days ago."

"Two months… It's been that long…" Muttered Fone. "Well, seeing as you guys have nowhere else to go, how about you come with me? I'm heading up to the old rat creature temple where some of my friends, including the Queen, are supposed to be hold up. It should be safe there. It'll be safer there than here anyway." Tom jumped at the chance to get his charges to safety.

"Yes, we'll go." He turned to the children to try to coerce them into leaving the cellar. "Come on kids, Fone here's going to take us to meet the Queen." One of the children recognized his name. An older girl, around ten or so.

"It's him!" She shouted pointing at Fone with excitement. "I've seen his statue in the Queen's square! He's the one who chased the ghost circles away!"

"But he's one of them." Said a small seven year old boy glumly. "One of the bad things that took our parents away. We can't trust him. He's probably a bad thing too." This words confused the children on who to believe. Tom pulled that boy aside.

"Adison, did your parents ever tell you that there are good people and bad people in the world?"

"Yes." Said the child. "I'm not stupid, I know that people can do bad things. But he isn't a person."

"Adison, just because he's different from you and me doesn't mean he isn't a person. He's good and wants to help us. I'm sure, just like not all of us here in the Valley are bad, not everyone where he comes from is a bad person either." Adison thought about this for a moment.

"Alright." He said reluctantly. "I'll trust him. But only because you do too." With that the children were eased, and they began their journey up the steps to the APC. Fone ran on ahead and opened the door, ushering them all into the back. When all of the children were loaded, He motioned for Tom to sit on the passenger's side while he went around to the driver's side. Right as Tom was about to close his door, he heard a voice.

"Tom!" It shouted, small and barely audible, but getting closer. "Tom! Where are you? Are you still here Tom?!" It was Roderick, Tom's and Fone's raccoon friend. Tom spotted him, and ran out of the APC to meet him.

"Roderick!" He shouted. The name sparked Fone's memory, and he ran around the vehicle to see what was going on. Tom and Roderick collided and collapsed in a pile of laughter half way between the farmhouse and the APC.

"I thought you were dead!" Roderick shouted in between elated gasps.

"No." replied Tom. "They locked us in the cellar. We thought we were going to die, but then he happened along and freed us." Tom pointed over at Fone, who was slowly approaching the scene.

"Him? A Bone? Why would he do that?" Asked Roderick, not really remembering Fone's face from when they met during Fone's excursion into the Eastern Mountains five years ago. As Fone approached, they began to recognize each other.

"Well I'll be damned." Said Fone as he finally realized who Roderick was. "The Possum Kid's Raccoon friend from the mountains. What brings you all the way out here?"

"Fone Bone. You know a lot of people were shocked to see you leave so abruptly all those years ago. The Possum kids were really broken up about it for a while. Why're you back now, of all times?"

"Just visiting old friends, I guess. Bad timing really. Or good timing, depending on how you look at it. Speaking of which how are the kids and the orphans doing?"

"Last I checked, the enemy wasn't paying much attention to us normal animals, so they should be fine. The orphans all got adopted by various families, but we didn't keep up with each other. Friendships of necessity, I suppose. And the Possums aren't kids anymore. Ever since their mom died a couple of winters ago, they all went their separate ways, and I haven't seen them since. Tom here has been my only real friend for the last three years."

"Well, at least we've found you. Want a lift? We're taking some kids up to the Old Rat Creature Temple."

"Why go there?" Roderick asked as both he and Tom got up off the ground and walked back with Fone to the APC.

"Well, it was supposed to be the meetup point for our horribly failed evacuation attempt the first day of the invasion. If anyone is still fighting, that's where they'll be. Including my cousin. And the Queen." They all loaded back up into the APC, with Roderick sitting on Tom's lap, and Fone drove off in the direction he was originally going.

"I heard there were some resistance fighters based out of somewhere in the mountains, but won't going to the temple require getting past Rock Jaw?"

"With any luck, he's already on our side. He helped Thorn and I… No, not helped. It was more like he let us live when we crossed his path on our way to the Crown of Horns. I think, when push comes to shove, he'll defend this valley in order to defend himself."

"Let's hope so. Because if he gets even the slightest inkling that he can survive on the enemy's side, you can be sure as hell that's where he's going to end up." They drove in silence from that point on, traveling in silence under the shadow of the great cat's domain. And from that shadow, feline eyes watched them with close curiosity.

* * *

"My broadcast today stretched our public relations to the limit, so they need results. They need to be shown that Admiral Satranik is a failure and will not be able to fight against our totality. They need to know that the previous government is dead. And so long as she lives, that cannot happen." Glaian was sitting in his war room, using the old stone altar of the temple they were based in as a table for his war council. He had gathered the most promising leaders of his group to assign them new ranks and a new task.

"The three of you." He said, "Are to be my new generals. I am assigning you the home front, to combating the forces of Admiral Satranik Haenkos, the last holdout of the Republic's armies, on the Western Coast, and to repel any invasion attempt made by human forces." He began pacing the room, looking each new general in the eye to measure their resolve.

"I've looked over each of your files, and your unique skill sets are wasted here. They will prove much more useful fighting challenging, conventional enemies rather than rag-tag gruella resistances. And I trust each of you enough that during tomorrow's broadcast, I'll be…" He was interrupted when Nibet Trenya burst through the doors at the end of the hall.

"Lord Glaian, sir! A patrol has found an unconscious soldier in the key tent of the eastern ground lot. And APC 2A13 has gone missing!" Nibet stopped in the doorway and caught her breath.

"Do we know who it was that took the APC? Did the guards or the sentries see anything?"

"No, Lord Glaian. But the patrol did manage to wake the soldier. He claims that the author Fone Bone rolled underneath the tent's lip and took him down with a single blow. He doesn't remember anything past that." Glaian sat down and considered the ramifications.

"And none of the guards saw anything? At all?"

"No, sir."

"Interesting… Phoncible's cousin manages to sneak into our camp, knock out a guard, and steal an APC from the middle of the lot without being seen? Either we have a major flaw in our security perimeter or a mole in our forces. Round up all of the guards on the eastern wall, as well as every patrol in the district next to the gate, including the one that found the soldier. Have an interrogation room set up in the palace courtyard and question them all thoroughly. Then have the engineers do a double, no, a triple check of the designs of our security systems. Make sure nothing isn't covered."

"Right away, Lord Glaian." Nibet exited the chamber, and Glaian resumed his speech to the new generals.

"Now where was I? Oh yes. Tomorrow, on the broadcast, I will…" Glaian continued speaking to them, as Nibet Trenya walked on to deliver his orders to the necessary people. As she passed an alleyway, a voice spoke to her from within the shadows.

"Nibet Trenya. You are a hard woman to find. And a much harder one to speak to."

"Who's there?" She asked. She stopped, and placed her hand at her hip, on the hilt of her blade.

"There's no need for violence here. I'm a friend. I come on behalf of Daniel Deyavara. It appears that you've not been following orders as planned."

"I don't know what you're talking about." She said, tensing up as she prepared to fight.

"No, of course you don't. They must've gotten to you after they got to Daniel. Well, don't worry about that." Out of the alleyway came a tranquillizer dart that hit Nibet square in the neck before she could react. As she collapsed to the ground, an arm came out of the alleyway, grabbed her, and dragged her inside. "We'll get you straightened out soon enough."


	15. Chapter 14: Homecoming

Author's Note: As of June 27th, 2016, the entire fanfic has been rewritten. That means this chapter, all that came before it, and all that follow it now contain different content that they did previously. You are strongly encouraged to go back and reread the entire fanfic from the beginning, as the revised continuity may confuse you if you jump in part of the way through.

* * *

Stone falls. Her mouth opens, but no sound comes out. Her hand reaches out to him. He smiles. The light of the fire dances upon his face. Stone crashes. A hand grabs her shoulder. Fire rages all around her. Darkness closes in. In the distance, a faint light emerges.

Thorn woke up in a cold sweat, panting and clutching her chest. She was having dreams again. About the day Fone died. She couldn't bear to think about it. But as much as she avoided it during the day, at night the memories always came back to haunt her. It ate her up inside. Thinking that for the entire time they knew each other, he… loved her. And she never knew. She just took his friendship for granted for so long, and then he was just gone. He saved her life and died. She couldn't bear that weight. Losing someone she didn't even know she loved because she was careless.

She sat up and looked around. She was still in her tent. Not wanting to fall asleep any time soon, she got up, put on her ragged cloths, and stooped out of the tent. Outside was a vast sea of tents, crates, and torches spanning the vast interior chamber of the rat creature temple. A hundred or so humans milled around the chamber doing various menial tasks. She walked over to the corner of the temple they were using as an armory, picked up a sniper rifle from the makeshift rack, and made her way up the stairs, . She was almost to what was left of the entrance when Phoney walked out of the shadows behind her.

"You're up early. I thought you were taking the day off." He asked. She sighed. He had been keeping tabs on her, didn't want her doing anything irrational.

"I'm heading out for target practice. I could use something to clear my head, sharpen my nerves." She replied.

"We only have so many bullets left from the cache Jigafta raided. So until he gets back with more, we're not to use the guns for anything stupid." He said sternly.

"This is war, Phoney. I've got to be at the top of my game." She started for the entrance again. Phoney grabbed her arm.

"I lost Fone too, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to go waste resources taking out my frustrations on some rocks."

"Oh, so now you give a damn about him? Or me, for that matter?" Thorn sneered.

"That's not fair. I've always cared about both of you."

"If I recall correctly, the last thing you said to your cousin was that the two of you weren't family anymore. If that's your way of showing someone you care, you are in serious need of an attitude adjustment."

"You're one to talk. You've always been concerned with yourself and only yourself. You've always tried to do everything on your own power. And now that you've finally realized how much Fone cared about you, how much he sacrificed for you, you can't handle it."

"You think you know me? You think you know what I've been through?" Thorn laughed. "You've never loved anyone in your life. How could you possibly understand my pain?"

"I understand perfectly. Perhaps more than you ever will." Phoney's gaze turned menacing, and he got right up on Thorn's face. "I saw my parents charred, broken bodies carted away in bags from a pile of rubble when I was ten. Smiley was shot to death saving my life from a person I thought was my friend. I saw Fone get crushed trying to save you. And the crowning achievement was…" His sentence faded into nothing. He stopped glaring at Thorn, and his gaze became distant and unfocused. "Ana." He backed up and brought himself back to reality, slowly. "Just don't do something you'll regret." He muttered before turning around and walking solemnly back into camp.

Confused and uncomfortable, Thorn walked out of the temple and clambered her way up the rock faces to a small cliff facing out toward the valley. She could see everything from her perch. The village, or what was left of it, sat smoldering in the distance, and the lights from Atheia were barely visible on the horizon.

She crouched down and leveled her rifle against her shoulder. Looking through the scope, she adjusted the instruments on the side and took a shot at a tree branch. She missed.

"Damn." She muttered as she readjusted and tried again. Her shot another miss. Eventually, after several tries, she managed to hit the branch. Her practice proceeded in the same manner. After a few hours, just when she had finally started shooting more hits than misses, the upside-down looming face of a large cat blocked her view. She scurried back in shock as Roque Ja bounded off of his perch above her and onto the edge of the cliff with an impossible amount of grace.

"There's no reason to be alarmed, _my Queen_" He laced the last two words with as much ire as he could muster, "I'm not here to kidnap you this time. I found something along the foothills that I thought might interest you."

"What might that be?" She asked tentatively. She still didn't trust him, even after two months of his watchful eye keeping the camp safe. He still sent a slight chill up her spine every time he spoke. Like he might get bored and decide to rip it out of her back.

"I spotted a vehicle leaving the Elm residence only an hour ago. It has since made a beeline directly for the location of the camp." Thorn decided to see for herself.

She crouched down and picked her rifle back up. Looking though the sights once more, she swept the area he described to her until she spotted the dust trail of a vehicle edging along the foothills of the mountains below her. She focused on it with her scope, and the side of one of Glaian's APCs came into view.

"How did he find out we're here?" She muttered to herself as she lowered the rifle. She turned to Roque Ja. "Why did you feel the need to tell me about this? Why not just go directly to Phoney about it?"

"Oh, I already did. He sent a team to intercept it not long after I told him. If you hurry, you might get there before them."

"Why would it matter if I got there before they did?"

"Because, as it passed, I smelled the scent of frightened humans. And something else which might surprise you. And I'd like to be around to see your first impression when you find out what it is." With those words, he disappeared back over his perch.

"What does he think I am, some form of amusement?" She muttered to herself as she proceeded to where she had spotted the APC.

In a few minutes she was in position above the APC's path. She lay down prone and brought the sniper rifle's scope up to her face. Right as she reacquired the APC in her sights, an explosion erupted in front of its path. A team of humans, all brandishing assault rifles, led by X'lish came out of the tree line and surrounded it. X'lish spoke.

"Alright." She shouted at the vehicle. "Send the humans out first, or I'll put a bullet through the driver side window."

"Alright, alright, no need to be pushy." Shouted the driver. He sounded strangely familiar to Thorn, like a ghost. The passenger doors opened and out poured almost a dozen frightened human children, a teenager she vaguely recognized as Tom Elm, and a raccoon.

"Now send out the driver. Slowly. Hands raised." Shouted X'lish.

"If you insist." Shouted the voice. Then out stepped a ghost. Thorn's heart stopped in her chest. It was him. Fone. "But was all this really necessary? There's no one else in there. I just came by to say hello."

"Get on the ground!" X'lish shouted. He begrudgingly did as he was told.

"X'lish, I'm hurt. Don't you recognize me?" He asked as she tied his hands behind his back.

"I'm not really too good with faces. I would apologize, but you'll be dead in a second anyway, so it doesn't really matter." She lined up a gun against his head. This snapped Thorn out of her daze.

"Wait!" Thorn shouted as she stood up from her hiding place. "Don't shoot!" She skid down the slanted rock face and ran up to X'lish.

"Queen Thorn." X'lish said, more than a little surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Get away from him, you idiot!" Thorn shouted at X'lish as she bent down to untie Fone's restraints. "That's Fone. Phoney's cousin." X'lish looked from Fone to Thorn back to Fone.

"I'll be damned." She said as recognition dawned on her. "It is you. Everyone said you were dead. My deepest apologies." Fone stood up. A palpable silence hung in the air between him and Thorn. A million thoughts raced through both of their heads.

"We've got movement!" One of X'lish's men shouted. "Six more of those… things on the horizon." X'lish turned to the awkward couple.

"I know you two probably have a lot to talk about," She said, "But right now we've got half a dozen vehicles trudging up that path, and they'll be on our asses in ten minutes unless we haul them the hell out of here." She turned to one of her men. "Lace the APC with charges. When they get close, blow them to hell." He nodded, and pulled some plastic explosives out of his bag. She addressed the rest of the crowd. "The rest of you get these kids to camp. Thorn, you and Fone go with them. I'll stay behind and stall for as long as I can." She saw the concerned look they gave her. "I can handle it, I promise. I'm an assassin, remember? I kill without people noticing me for a living." She walked over to the APC and took the charges from the man fumbling to activate them. He joined the rest of his unit and they ran off carrying the kids with them. Fone and Thorn looked at each other, and took off after the pack, leaving X'lish behind.

* * *

"Wake up!" A voice shouted as water splashed over Nibet's face. She slowly opened her eyes and stared at the man looming over her. At first, she didn't know where she was. Then she remembered being kidnapped, and immediately began inspecting the area around her, internally on the edge of panic but externally exuding an air of calm. She was in a dimly lit room, probably a basement of some kind. A lone Bone stood in front of her. It took her a moment but she recognized him as Secretary of Defense Julius Freeman, supposedly killed during the destruction of the Capital. She instinctively tried to lurch at him out of the chair she was sitting in, but she was jerked back into place by the ropes binding her.

"Took you long enough." He muttered under his breath. Nibet glared at him. "But now that you're awake, we can get down to business. First we need to get that crystal out."

"What the hell are you talking about?" She asked him, trying as hard as she could to loosen the restraints by straining against them.

"Don't play dumb. Glaian implanted a tiny blue crystal into your back left molar. We're going to take it out." He grabbed a pair of plyers from a table next to him. Nibet began to panic as he wrenched her mouth open with his free hand. She attempted to bite down and free herself, but his grip was too string. Slowly and methodically, he gripped her molar with the plyers and began to pull. Pain coursed through her whole body, and she began wracking herself furiously to try to dislodge him, prevent him from tearing out her tooth.

Eventually he got it free though, and withdrew his hand from her mouth, along with the tooth. He placed the tooth on the table, and pulled out a small hammer. He smashed the tooth with it vigorously, the first attack shattering it and revealing a small blue crystal. He continued to attack the crystal until it too shattered. This took several minutes.

As soon as it did however, Nibet received visions. Memories, clouded and at war with her more recent ones, but memories none the less. And the more she received, the more she knew they were the correct ones, somehow removed and replaced by a false set and a false personality to match. Julius gave her a few minutes to process this revelation, and then he resumed their conversation.

"Feeling better?" He asked sardonically.

"What did you do to me?" She asked staring up at his smirking face.

"I just gave you your life back. Everything Glaian and Archibald stole from you. What is it you saw, exactly?"

"I saw… the past. Receiving orders from Secretary Deyavara to insert myself into Glaian's camp as a spy. Receiving the call almost a year later to stop Faldr from dueling Glaian. Then a short time later being cornered by Glaian in a hallway. Him pulling out that small blue crystal from his pocket, and then me waking up a completely different person. What was that thing?" She could tell from his expression that he was itching to give the answer.

"I'm not really sure. Neither were Glaian and Archibald. They found at least a dozen of them, along with a really big one, in a temple out in the desert some fifteen years ago."

"The chrysalis they keep talking about?" She asked, her curiosity piqued by this new revelation.

"Exactly." He replied before continuing his lecture. "The writings in the temple refer to them as nightmare eggs. The one in your head was comparatively small. They're made out of the same compound as is found in a person's dreaming eye, I'm sure you've overheard Glaian and Archibald discussing those, and they have the ability to steal from a person recently acquired memories and even entire chunks of their personality. How far back into a person's memory it pulls is relative to its size. The one they hit you with was designed only to affect your memories of when you were in his camp, but not your skills as an assassin. This deficit leaves the target open to suggestion as they try to fill in the gaps. They used this to imprint upon you some false memories about how you idolized Glaian and some other bull to make you easier to control."

"Is that also why Secretary Deyavara tried to kill the President? Did they get to him as well?" Nibet's pre-wipe sentiments started to return to her. Her complete hatred of the Order, as well as her loathing of Glaian and his crusade, began to manifest themselves.

"They did, I think. I'm not really sure on all the details, but his change was much slower than yours so no one would notice." He then began thinking aloud to himself. "Honestly I have no idea why they did it though. If Archibald was already a traitor, then why convert Daniel as well? Maybe it was to get Phoncible to trust him more, or perhaps Glaian just has a sick fetish for the theatrical."

"Hey!" Nibet derailed his train of thought and pulled him back into reality. "How did you find all of this out?"

"I got suspicious after Daniel was killed, so I snuck away from the meeting and began to dig into Archibald's files. I managed to crack his last encryption right before I heard him kill Victor and the other members of the cabinet. I downloaded his databases to an external hard drive and ran to see if I could help. But by that time the army had already extracted the president, and I had to move fast to get out alive. I barely made it, but I did. After that I spent a lot of time looking into Archibald's files in secret, and about a week ago I joined Glaian's crusade using a fake ID. I knew I had to find you and start building a force to tear down Glaian's army from the inside. We may be the only ones left who can put things right."

"That's not entirely true. The President is still alive. He leads a strike force of humans and some of my former colleagues. They're stationed somewhere in the northern half of the valley, though we don't know where exactly."

"I thought the President was dead."

"Glaian declared that you were dead. He has a habit of doing that to put momentum behind his cause. I wouldn't be surprised if there were still more than a few members of the government left, despite what Glaian keeps saying." Julius chewed on this thought for a moment. Nibet interrupted him. "Could you untie me from the chair please? It's getting a bit uncomfortable."

"I can't do that just yet. I don't trust that the old memories have righted themselves in your mind yet."

"I'll help you kill Glaian. I'll help you find the President too, I swear." Julius didn't look convinced. "He took away part of my life. Not a big part, but a damaging one. Made me kill my best friend, my sister's husband. He made me sacrifice my ideals for him. And he made me worship him. When I get my hands on him, I'll take out every agonizing second of these past months on him. Trust that."

"I'd trust it more if you told me some about how his camp is laid out, and where the weak points are."

"I can do more than that." She smiled, thinking of the pain she would inflict upon Glaian when she found him. "I can tell you when to strike. He's making another broadcast tomorrow night. There he'll christen his new group of generals to fight Admiral Satranik Haenkos and what's left of the Republic's military. If we strike him then, it'll be a major blow to his cause. It'll show weakness in his defense and in his ability. That'll be more damaging than killing him."

"I like the way you think."

"Going to untie me now?"

"Not quite. First I need you to lay out the rest of this plan for me. Then I'll untie you."

"Fine. First step: we need more allies. Last I heard, Glaian had a small force besieging some humans at Old Man's Cave. If we free them, they'll definitely be of use somehow. And while gathering allies is on the table, we need to contact the President. If both his forces and ours attack at the same time, we might take his whole empire down in one fell swoop."

* * *

"Mr. President, are you there?" A voice crackled over the radio waves. Phoney jumped up from his chair in the central tent and ran over to the communications console to reply.

"Jigafta, I'm here. And I really hope you found some good stuff, because the generators are almost out of fuel."

"Yeah, we hit the motherlode. We stumbled upon a whole supply convoy this morning. Ammo, food, fuel, weapons, batteries, and everything else we'll need to keep ourselves going for another few weeks. We're just finishing up loading everything onto the gunship, so we should be home in time for lunch."

"Thank God." Phoney replied. "Did you happen to find anything… high end?"

"Nope. No mech suits, no plasma missiles, no new prototypes, no nothing. Just more supplies. I'm honestly a bit baffled as to what's been staying his hand this long."

"Well, good job anyway. Just be cautious with the landing. X'lish's team had to intercept an APC about ten minutes ago, so we think Glaian's onto our location and might be watching the area. Don't de-cloak until you clear the reflector screens, got it?"

"Yeah, yeah. We'll be home soon. Oh, and tell Thorn we managed to snag a transmission from one of their communicators. It appears that her Grandmother is still alive and holding out in Old Man's Cave."

"I'll tell her. Fly straight." The radio transmission cut off. Phoney turned to face the rest of his inner circle: Caydmar, Rankyne, and Sybron Brook. "What do you make of this new information?" He asked them.

"It seems to me that, since Queen Rose is still alive, there is a chance that the Dragon Council still survives as well. We should make every effort to reestablish contact with them in order to better plan a counterattack." Said Syrbon Brook.

"I think that'd be a stupid idea." Said Caydmar candidly. "Glaian's been pulling his punches this whole time. He could move his entire army into the valley and slaughter everyone but us in an afternoon if he wanted. He's biding his time. Probably until we show ourselves. We can't try making contact without knowing it won't expose us."

"We may already be exposed." Scoffed Rankyne. "His vehicles have arrived at our doorstep. I say we take advantage of his lack of coordination and resources at this moment and attack him directly."

"That wouldn't be a good idea. In a straight up fight, he's got us outmatched and outnumbered. We'd be walking to our graves."

"Well at least we'd be going to our deaths honorably, instead of shriveling up slowly like father did! Like you would have us do!"

"Do you want to hash this out right now?" Asked Caydmar. 'If you've got something to say, say it to my face!"

"Enough!" Roared Phoney. "This isn't happening now, do you understand? I'm not having a family counseling session in the middle of a war meeting because the two of you can't keep it together!"

"You call this a war meeting?" Laughed Rankyne. "This isn't anything but a den of cowards. I'm going for a walk. Come and get me when you feel like fighting with some honor." Rankyne stormed out of the tent. Caydmar began to follow him, but Phoney held him back.

"Don't." Phoney shook his head. "Let him clear his head. He'll be back eventually." Caydmar sat back down. Phoney resumed the meeting. "It'd be… misguided to assume that Glaian will allow us any breathing space to contact aid. That being said, he hasn't even moved any troops into the valley in several days. He's left the rest of his army at home. Why?"

"I would imagine controlling a lot of resentful people from far away must take an amazing amount of military presence." Said Sybron.

"Exactly. That's where all of his missiles are. Aimed at his own people. We can use that. He won't need them to fight us, but he won't be expecting us to know he doesn't have them either."

"He's not that stupid though." Caydmar chimed in. "He'd have some squared away just in case he needs them."

"So we find those, wherever they might be, and his greatest defense becomes his worst nightmare." Sybron said enthusiastically.

"Finding them will be the problem though." Phoney replied. "I can have the Dragons start taking a look when they get back from their operation, but I doubt we'll find them without asking Glaian himself, or one of his commanders. But that isn't what I've been considering. Why does he need all of his missiles to control the people? He runs a convincing bluff. All he'd need is some smoke and a few dozen missiles, and he could have the whole country quaking with fear."

"Perhaps he's afraid of an uprising?"

"I don't think the Bones would have the strength to mount a revolt that would require plasma cascades to put down. I've got a hunch that he isn't fighting on just one front."

"Do you think some of your military still remains?" Asked Caydmar.

"Like I said, it's just a hunch. But if any of the Chiefs of Staff survived, they'd be putting up a strong defense. And getting human aid to boot. If there's anyone we should contact, it would be them."

"That's all well and good." Sybron mused. "But if Glaian is indeed onto our location, then like you said we shouldn't take such risks as contacting the outside for help."

"Phoney, we're coming in, and we brought company." Crackled one of X'lish's squad members over the radio. Phoney smiled to himself. Finally, something to look forward to.

"Have faith Master Brook." Phoney said exuberantly as he began to exit the tent. The others followed him. He walked towards the entrance. "X'lish's team should be back by now, and then we should know exactly how much Glaian knows about our location. And what moves we can make next." Phoney and company arrived at the entrance just in time to see X'lish's squad rush around the corner and into the entrance.

Phoney was slightly taken aback when human children and a raccoon poured through the entrance after the team instead of prisoners. He was even more shocked when Fone and Thorn ducked in. He stopped them, and gave Fone an extremely abrupt hug.

"Where's this coming from?" Fone asked as Phoney held him out at arm's length. "I thought you hated me?"

"We can hash out our differences later." The corners of Phoney's eyes glistened. "Right now, I'm just glad you're alive." Phoney let Fone go, and the three of them stood in an awkward silence for a moment. "So…" Phoney rubbed the back of his head. "I've got about a million questions right now. First off, how are you alive?"

"Phoney," Replied Fone. "I've had one hell of a week. Get me something to drink, and I'll tell you two the whole story."


	16. Chapter 15: Counteroffensive

Author's Note: As of June 27th, 2016, the entire fanfic has been rewritten. That means this chapter, all that came before it, and all that follow it now contain different content that they did previously. You are strongly encouraged to go back and reread the entire fanfic from the beginning, as the revised continuity may confuse you if you jump in part of the way through.

* * *

"And that's all Taneal said." Stillman reported to Gran'ma Ben and the Great Red Dragon. The tiny dragon waited apprehensively for a reply.

"Her earlier two reports were much more extensive." Said Gran'ma. "This just seems to be a warning. Do you think they've caught wind of her true intentions?"

"Unlikely." Replied the Great Red Dragon. "We wouldn't be talking to Stillman now if they did. Glaian's siege must be making progress. Either that or the Council hasn't been active much lately." He turned to address Stillman. "Can you still get through Glaian's line?"

"Yes, uncle. No one knows the small cracks and tunnels like me."

"Good, good. Tell Taneal that we need to know the particulars of this 'Everlasting Dream' the Council has planned. And to get more information on who and what this "Nightmare Entity" is."

"Yes, uncle. I'll go now."

"There's no need to tire yourself out so much. Stay a few hours. Rest up." Said Gran'ma Ben.

"No thank you, Queen Rose. If everyone is going to be doing their part to help with the war effort, than so am I. I should be back in a few days at most." With that he sprung back, grabbed onto the wall, scurried up and slinked through a crack in the ceiling.

"Your nephew doesn't like to slow down, does he?"

"He's a good kid. Brave. Tenacious. Loyal. He might be a little excitable, but he knows how to get a job done. I wouldn't have given him my name if he wasn't capable." Replied the Great Red Dragon.

"Speaking of, why'd you give up your name in the first place?"

"It's something I'd rather not discuss, if you don't mind. Maybe when we win this war I'll tell you the whole story." Just then Ted scampered through the same crack Stillman had left through.

"Ted!" Gran'ma Ben exclaimed. "We haven't seen you in weeks! Did the villagers make it to the Temple safely?"

"No." Ted said depressingly as he jumped down onto her finger. "By the time I got there, the flyin' things had arrived and bones began taking people away to the city. I tried to help some people sneak out, but the bones found us n' started shootin' people in the legs to stop 'em from runnin'. Then they dragged everyone onto the ship and took 'em where they were takin' everyone else. I hopped on to see where they were goin'. They threw everyone off in some giant fenced in camp just outside the city walls. I tried figurin' a way out for everyone, but I had no luck. I did managed to slip away through the fence though, and I've been inchin' my way 'round patrols for about a week now tryin' to get in here."

"Well, it's a good thing you did." Said the Great Red Dragon. "Stillman is too large to make a journey to the Temple without being spotted, but no one would notice you. Not even Roque Ja. I know you just got here, and this is all a bit sudden, bit we need you to get a message to Phoney."

"Whatever you need." Ted replied.

"Tell him we're alive and that we need reinforcements. And that he can't trust the Dragon Council. They're planning something big, bigger than anything we've been through before." Before the Dragon could continue however, there was a large crashing sound from the lowered and boarded up gate. Cracks appeared along its surface. The several dozen remaining Venu warriors stood up from where they had been sitting or slouching around the room.

"Alright men! Time's up!" Shouted Gran'ma Ben. Everyone in the room turned to listen to her. "The enemy lies at the door to our innermost sanctum. This is it. Our last stand. Our final hour." She drew her sword from her belt and walked up to raised platform the gate rested upon. She turned around. "Well I for one am not going to spend it lying down!" The crowd began to cheer. The door shuddered again. "When they tell tales of this day, they will sing of how we did not go quietly! They will laude our courage to face death laughing, our strength to fight for our kingdom and our countrymen to the bitter end! We may face death today, but you can be damn sure our enemy will as well! In our blades, our arrows, and our fury! They have taken everything from us! Now it's time we pay them back in kind!" She raised her sword into the air, and everyone else did the same. A raucous cheer erupted from the crowd as the gate shuttered a third time. The cracks in the stone had almost shattered it, and most of the boarding was smashed into splinters. Through the cracks they group could hear faint shouting.

Gran'ma Ben jumped off the platform and slung the bow off of her back. She drew an arrow from her quiver and notched it. The rest of the archers did the same. She glanced briefly back at the Great Red Dragon, who nodded to her and blew a puff of smoke from his nostrils. Ted hopped up into the crack and prepared to flee if things took a turn for the worse.

There was a great explosion. The gate shattered inwards, but the monks maneuvered swiftly around the flying rock.

"Fire!" Shouted Gran'ma Ben. The archers let loose a volley of arrows. "Charge!" She shouted as she drew her sword and leapt over the platform. All of the warriors charged right behind her with blades drawn out through the gateway. What they saw, however, halted their advance in its tracks.

The grounds of the outer camp of Old Man's cave were littered with the corpses of bones. Guns and armor and supplies were strewn about all over the ground haphazardly. Outside the outer gates were half a dozen exploded and abandoned vehicles. And standing right in front of them was a lone bone woman wielding a rocket launcher and a light machine gun. Some panicking soldier fired an arrow at her head. She moved slightly to the side and let it whiz past her harmlessly.

"That wasn't very nice." She shook her head. "After all the trouble I went through to kill everyone for you, you go shooting arrows at me. Oh, no matter. I was wondering when you guys would come out. Even after I had finished the cleanup you didn't show, so I just blew up the door and hoped that would coerce you out. It seems I was right."

"What the hell is going on?" Asked Gran'ma Ben as she lowered her sword.

"You must be Queen Rose Harvester. I'm Nibet Trenya." She threw her gun down onto the ground and offered out her hand. Gran'ma Ben pretended to take it, and then swiftly put her sword at Nibet's throat and forced her to the ground.

"Phoney warned me about you. He said you were a trickster. He said I should kill you on sight."

"He did, did he? That's understandable. I did try to kill him once." Gran'ma Ben pressed her sword into Nibet's neck. "But I didn't want to." She blurted out. "Glaian put this crystal in my tooth that stole my memories and forced me to follow his orders. I actually work for one of Phoney's Secretaries, Julius Freeman, and I've come here to rescue you and tell you about a counterattack we've formulated."

"Come up with a better excuse next time, girl." Said Gran'ma Ben as she prepared to slit Nibet's throat. But she hesitated, looking around at all of the dead and dying bodies lying on the ground.

"Wait! Stop!" Shouted the Great Red Dragon as he bounded to the front of the group. Gran'ma released Nibet and let her get up, but kept her bade close to her throat all the same. "What did you say Glaian implanted you with?"

"A small blue crystal called a nightmare egg." She answered, not taking her eyes off the sword at her throat.

"She's telling the truth."

"How can you be sure?" Asked Gran'ma Ben.

"Look around. She clearly killed all of these people. She dropped her guns and didn't resist being threatened even though she's clearly a seasoned fighter. Plus, she mentioned nightmare eggs. Thought I never encountered any myself, I heard they were built by the Councilman to steal memories." Gran'ma Ben's sword didn't waiver. "Let's at least hear her out."

"Fine." Gran'ma Ben lowered her sword. "But I still don't trust her." She signaled to the men, and they all slouched back inside the broken gate, both disappointed and relieved. The Great Red Dragon, Gran'ma Ben, and Nibet walked back over to where Ted was perched. He jumped back down onto Gran'ma Ben's finger.

"Spill it." She said to Nibet.

"Julius Freeman and I are currently imbedded within Glaian's army. We've caught wind of a grand ceremony Glaian is hosting tomorrow night where he's going to christen his new generals and parade around some propaganda to build up moral and zeal among both the soldiers and the people back in my home country. If we attack the city then, and make him lose face, he'll lose sway with the people and his own army. This war will be over in a matter of days."

"What do you propose we do, exactly?" Asked the Great Red Dragon.

"We take a small strike team in a gunship and attack the ceremony when the guards are all distracted. At the same time, Phoncible's forces should attack the human concentration camp and Glaian's major strategic positions, before joining us in attacking Glaian himself. If all goes according to plan, we should be able to take down his whole base of operations in one night."

"Have you already told Phoney about this plan?" Asked Gran'ma Ben.

"No. I was hoping one of your men could make the trip."

"I can." Piped up Ted. Nibet gave him a strange look for about half a second. "Just tell me what to say. I was about to head over there anyway." Nibet told him the particulars of the strategy. "Alright. I'd best be off then." Ted jumped back onto the ledge of the crack in the ceiling and bounced away into the afternoon sun.

"Can we trust a bug to deliver such an important message?"

"Ted's a reliable ally. He'll make it in time." Said the Great Red Dragon. Gran'ma Ben just scowled at her.

"Boy, won't this be a fun time." Nibet muttered to herself. "Alright. I'll just go call Julius and tell him the operation is on track." She walked back outside leaving Gran'ma Ben to discuss this new turn of events. When she was out under the open sky, she pulled out her communicator and began to call Julius. Suddenly she heard a voice behind her.

"Betraying the lord now, of all times? After everything he did for you? For us?" Nibet turned around and saw herself standing in the field of corpses. She dropped her communicator as Julius came on the line.

"Nibet, you have a report to make?" He asked. Nibet just stared at her copy. She blinked, and her double was gone. She shook herself out of the shock she was in and picked up the communicator.

"Yeah, I'm here."

"Is something wrong?"

"Nope. I just spaced out for a second. Queen Rose's group is on board. Now I just have to hear from Phoney. We sent a messenger ahead and told him to contact us, among other things."

"Good. Keep up the good work." He cut the conversation short. She put her communicator back on her belt and immediately began thinking about the vision she just had. She couldn't be crazy. It was just another one of Glaian's mind games. Probably a failsafe if the egg was removed. Yeah, that was it, a failsafe. Not her own thoughts. Something she could deny. She reassured herself and walked back to the cave. As she reached the gate, she thought she heard laughter. Her own laughter. She whirled around, but nothing was there. She calmed down, and walked through the threshold.

* * *

Admiral Satranik Haenkos was sitting at the head of a large table in the middle of the UHF chambers. It had been almost twelve hours since Glaian's announcement to the world, and every country currently interested in securing colonization rights had their ambassadors present at the meeting. The Y'threni, the Rhumenese, the Wadralians, and half a dozen smaller powers all had members sat around the circular table to talk plans for mapping out and dividing up the newly discovered land. The Admiral didn't like it, but it was the only way to get their help. She agreed to their terms. When it looked like they had been discussing amongst themselves long enough, she interrupted to put the meeting back on track.

"Alright, you've spent enough time working out colonization details, can we get back to the matter at hand? I still need troops and supplies to drive Glaian's out of my country. If you want the rights to the land, I need at least a division of soldiers from each of you, two from those who can spare them." The room fell silent. Eventually, one of the ambassadors piped up.

"You expect us to send you fifteen thousand men apiece for the rights to some land in the middle of nowhere?"

"Those were the terms we agreed upon, Michalis. If you're government isn't comfortable with them, you're free to leave. Mine will more than happily pick up the slack. Just know that you would be forfeiting your rights in the new land grab to my government." Retorted the Y'threni Foreign Minister. The other ambassador got up and left the room without a word.

"Is there anyone else who would like to go back on their word?" Asked Admiral Haenkos. No one else spoke up. "Good. How soon can you all have your troops ready?"

"The UHF defense force is currently comprised of several divisions provided by each member nation's army, navy, and air force. According to our terms, you will be allowed to pick and choose from this list as you see fit, and they should be ready to execute orders in less than twenty-four hours." Reported the Wadralian Ambassador. "Is there anything else that you require for your plan? Anything… Specific?"

"Yes, there is. The Rhumenese have a large espionage satellite network. I'm going to need access to their latest prototype: Project Thunderbird."

"Surely I don't know what you mean." Said the Rhumenese Councilor apprehensively.

"Did you think that my government was so inept or self-assured that we didn't monitor human affairs? We've known about Project Thunderbird since the incident two months ago."

"Slow down." Said the Wadralian Ambassador. "What is Project Thunderbird?"

"A satellite mounted large scale EMP." Said the Rhumenese Councilor in defeat. "We built it to take down the network of anyone who tried to invade us. It launched in secret last year."

"And it is the reason the Rhumenese are so confident they can handle Glaian's forces if they decided to invade. Unfortunately, it also happens to be what took down the entire Rhumenese electrical grid two months ago." Admiral Haenkos turned directly to the Rhumenese Councilor. "But we all know a bone was involved in that incident. If he isn't already, Glaian will find out about your little secret sooner or later. They only time it will be useful is right now. I've already had my forces insulated against the blast, but Glaian's aren't. If we launch it right before our invasion, his men won't stand a chance." The Rhumenese Councilor stood up and began shouting.

"This whole meeting is a farce! I will not hand over control of my country's best line of defense to the people it was designed specifically to keep out!"

"Then you can do so without access to Wadralian trade networks." Retorted the Wadralian Ambassador.

"Or Y'threni corporate backing." Interjected the Y'threni Foreign Minister.

"You cannot be serious!" The Rhumenese Councilor backed up in shock. "You're all siding with this madwoman? Giving away all of our defensive measures?"

"And you would stand alone, clinging to a device you can't keep under your own control as your only means of protection? Think carefully about what's best for your people, Councilor. Don't make rash decisions with their futures on the line. If you do not agree to her terms, then you will be consigning your entire country to starvation and death, one way or another." The Rhumenese Councilor stared around in shock. After a few moments, he brought himself under control and sat back down.

"Very well, Madam President. You will have access to Thunderbird. Don't make me regret my decision." With that, he got up and left the meeting. Silence hung in the air.

"I move that we recess for an hour to let the Councilor clear his head." Said Satranik. The rest of the UHF members agreed, and left the room to their quarters. Only the Admiral was left. As she was leaving, she received a call on her phone. It was her assistant again.

"Yes, Hannah. What is it this time?" She asked as she answered the call.

"Admiral, this is Secretary of Defense Julius Freeman. I've piggybacked on your assistant's cell signal to call you using her number. I am alive, and I don't have much time to talk."

"Secretary Freeman? You're alive? This is great! Where are you? I can send a team to extract you wherever…"

"There's no time for that. I'm embedded deep within Glaian's organization. And right now you've probably managed to secure the Thunderbird Prototype from the Rhumenese to use against Glaian. I've caught wind of a ceremony he'll be holding in about thirty-six hours, around six in the afternoon on coastal time. It'll be a show of force and grandeur. I've been putting together a counteroffensive to launch then. I want you to fire the Thunderbird and launch your invasion as soon as we initiate our counterattack."

"Slow down. This is a lot to take in. How did you even know Thunderbird existed?"

"I haven't been sitting on my hands for two months, Admiral, I've been working."

"That makes sense. Sorry. I just through I had kept that information contained. Moving on, how will I know when you've executed your plan?"

"The whole affair will be televised. Watch it. When everything begins to go to hell, fire the Thunderbird and attack. If we time this right… Shit, another patrol's coming. I've got to go. Remember, thirty-six hours, televised ceremony." He ended the conversation. She stood, reeling in the shock in this new information for a moment. Then she smiled. Glaian had played right into their hands. The best possible scenario had just fallen into her lap. She made her way back to her quarters to think, and on the way, she called up the commander of her forces in the Republic.

"Madam President. What is it you require?" He asked as he picked up.

"Ready your men, commander. We've secured everything we hoped for and more. We launch in thirty-six hours."

* * *

"That's one hell of a story." Laughed Phoney. He, Fone, and Thorn were all sitting right inside the entrance to the temple, drinking what little alcohol they had left in the stockpile and catching up. "I still don't understand how you managed to survive being crushed like that."

Fone sat up against the stone wall and exhaled. "To be honest, I'm not sure I did. I don't have any memory of what happened to me after the roof collapsed on top of me, except the visions, but it seems highly impossible that I not only survived several tons of stone falling on my head, but that I walked away with all of my bones intact. I think the Dreaming of the Dragons or something must have had a hand in what happened, because what happened to me sure as hell wasn't natural."

"After everything we've seen, I'm just about ready to believe anything. And I certainly wouldn't put it past the Great Red Dragon and his pals to have some secret assets squared away. Spooky shit. Like Thorn's superpowers. Speaking of which what happened to those anyway?" The mention of her name seemed to drag Thorn back to reality. For the past few minutes while Fone talked she had just been staring at him, lost in her own world. Phoney pretended not to notice.

"I'm sorry. Those, yeah. The Dragons taught me most of those when I was a kid. Secret dreaming techniques and the like. But all of the stuff I could do relied on communicating with the dreaming itself. And, ever since Glaian got here, I haven't been able to concentrate like that. There's too much interference. It's almost like the Dreaming is… preoccupied with something. Almost straining against itself. Every time I try communicating, I get a huge migraine for hours. What do you guys make of it?"

"I think we're all hopelessly in over our heads. It's nice to know some things never change." Said Fone.

"And I think you're all drinking the last of the booze." Said X'lish as she meandered through the doorway, covered in dust, soot, and a bit of blood. Behind her she was dragging the body of one of Glaian's soldiers.

"X'lish. Nice to see you've made it out in one piece again. Must have been one hell of a fight." Phoney said as he stood up.

"Yeah, though compared to some of the stunts I've pulled out of my ass over the years, this one was pretty tame. Come with me back to the war room and I'll tell you all about it, Mr. President Sir." She saluted mockingly. She winked at him, and nodded her head at Thorn and Fone.

"When we get our country back, you are so court-martialed." Phoney replied as the two of them began walking back into the camp.

"At least I've got something to look forward to. Until then, want to help me tie this guy up and beat him for intel when he wakes?"

"I suppose it couldn't hurt." Eventually they passed out of earshot of Thorn and Fone. They sat next to each other, not talking for a few moments. Then Fone broke the silence.

"I suppose this is the point where we have to talk about what happened."

"You don't want some time to… collect your thoughts or anything?" Thorn asked.

"I think if this takes any more time, I might pop a blood vessel." The silence returned briefly.

"Fone," Thorn said suddenly, "You were dead. That pain doesn't just go away. It sticks to you. It doesn't let go easily. I'm still trying to sort out my own emotions right now. They've been so buried in grief these past couple of months that honestly I'm not even sure how I feel myself."

"Is that your idea of letting me down gently?"

"No!" Thorn shouted, slightly offended. "Bloody stars no. It's just that I think I might need a little more time to put my brain back in order. I thought you'd fell the same."

"Thorn," Fone interjected, "It took me six years to get those words out. This isn't a request you have to respond to right now, but I need you to tell it to me straight. No fluff. No bullshit. No excuses or dodging the question. How do you feel about me?" Thorn didn't respond for a while. "Did I cross a line?" Fone asked apprehensively.

"No. No, it's a fair question. I'm just trying to figure out the best way of putting an answer into words." She was silent for a moment. Then she turned to face him. Sunlight shone through the archway and danced on his face, in his eyes. She got lost in them. Before either of them knew what they were doing, their faces were already next to each other, practically touching. "But maybe I don't really have to." She whispered. She closed her eyes and tilted her head to the side. Their lips brushed. Then, hesitantly, tenderly, they kissed.

Fone's and Thorn's hearts exploded with emotions, but none were strong enough to break the passion of the moment. Their kiss seemed to them to last a lifetime. Everything they had said to each other since their first strange encounter in the hot spring six years ago had culminated in this one moment of infinity. Of pure, inescapable bliss. Of a love finally requited.

Eventually, Phoney came back up to check on them. When he walked into the small passageway leading to the door and found them in each other's embrace, he was slightly taken aback. They didn't seem to notice however. "Ahem." He coughed as he trampled over their moment. "What happened to this being war?" He asked mockingly. Hastily, they moved apart and looked away from each other. Before either of them could speak, he cut them off. "Sorry that was inappropriate of me. I'm just a bit surprised it took you two this long. Honestly I was starting to think that you'd never end up together. But I don't want to have to remind you two that we've got a job to do. People to make pay for everything they've put us through."

"Yeah. Cool." Fone said, barely keeping his thought and emotions contained. Thorn was silent, her face completely red from being discovered, but she nodded in acknowledgement.

"Good." Phoney said. "When Jigafta gets here, you should both head back down to the war room so we can continue the briefing." As he turned to leave, he heard the sound of a gunship's rotor blades powering down as one landed outside. "Speak of the devil." He muttered to himself. Phoney stopped walking back, and leaned against the wall, looking at the archway as Fone and Thorn got up and tried their best not to look like an awkward young couple. After a few minutes, Jigafta poked his head through the doorway.

"Hey, Phoney!" He shouted, not noticing who was standing across from him."We're unloading the stuff now. Come out and take a look. We really stuck gold with this raid." Before he left the doorway, he noticed Fone out of the corner of his eye. Instantly he froze. His stance shifted, and the atmosphere of the room changed to follow suit.

"Jigafta?" Phoney asked. Thorn gulped, sensing that something wasn't right.

"Fone?" Jigafta asked. "Is that you?" His hand unclipped the sidearm on his belt.

"Yeah." Fone said hesitantly. "What's wrong?" Jigafta sighed. His stance relaxed.

"Nothing." He took his hand off of his hip and the mood relaxed. "Sorry, the heat must be getting to me. It's good to see that you're back safe and sound." He walked back out through the archway to help unload the supplies. Right after he got to the gunship, one of the dragons that had helped them with the day's raid walked up to him.

"Does he remember who he was?" Said the dragon. She was red, and comparatively small for a dragon. From snout to tail, she stretched as long as the Great Red Dragon did, but her legs were shorter, leaving her at about only half the height. Her body was thin, like a lizard's, and her tail long and barbed. She had a magnificent crest of horns lining the back of her head, and her snout was short but sharp. To top it all off she boasted a magnificent pair of wings, a feature almost unseen among the dragons of the Valley.

"Well if it isn't Breshet the Sky Champion." He said mockingly. She glared at him. "Sky Champion" wasn't a title she was exactly fond of. "Yeah, he does. And he seems to be able to genuinely feel emotions too." The two of them walked over to the other side of the plateau.

"This isn't right. Shouldn't he be trying to destroy the Crown by now? I'm not optimistic enough to believe he hasn't been pulled to one side or the other by now."

"He lacks orders. His lower soul layer is empty. When the veil was pierced five years ago he didn't have any underlying orders, so nothing happened. The Catalyst is trying to capitalize on that blank slot. We have to make a move soon before we can't wrench it out."

"But why? If he already possesses the catalyst, then if he gets to the Crown we can end this."

"Did you lose your head in the last three millennium? You know as well as I do that if he gets anywhere close to Mon'Yaran in the state he's in, we'll be handing that madman the key to destroying all life as we know it."

"Then we should probably find a way to re-fill his soul before the Catalyst takes hold. Assuming what you're saying is true that is."

"And what exactly do you mean by that?"

"You were trapped outside a reliable source of power for three thousand years. Shard reassured me that you're functioning normally, but I'm not so sure. You've already allowed events to degenerate to this state, and now you want us to blindly follow you further. Forgive me for not being entirely convinced you even know what you're doing."

"Damn it! This isn't the time for us to be second guessing ourselves. We're entering the most critical stages. If you don't trust me, we could lose everything."

"I don't think you can clearly see the entire picture. The Council has clearly been raising him like a sacrificial lamb to act as the catalyst's shell ever since he first came to the valley. How do you know they don't already control him?"

"I don't, but right now he's the only shot we have at making sure everyone, anyone, in this valley lives to see a bright future. Or a future at all."

"No, he's the best chance you have at resurrecting her."

"I have enough self-control to separate my personal goals from the success of the plan."

"Assuming that's true, and assuming we can proceed as you say we can, what are we supposed to do afterword? If Mon'Yaran has once again turned his gaze upon this land, then none of us stand a chance against him. How do you plan on destroying a god?"

"With the Spark. Which, thanks to Lorimar's machinations, is now in our possession."

"And taking over the mind of the only person capable of wielding it at its full power!"

"I'll admit, it isn't a perfect plan. But it's the only plan we've got. Give me some time. I'll work out some more specifics as the situation developsIf you don't like my answer, you and the rest can curl up and accept your fates like the cowards on the Council."

"I'm nothing like those rats."

"Then have patience. I'll have a plan soon. And if the Crystal Councilman breaks free within that time, we'll have a much larger window of preparation as long as we keep him focused on Mon'Yaran."

"I don't like this strategy of yours. Waiting for our enemy to ensure his victory before making a move. I can get close to the Council. I can slit all of their throats before they know what's going on."

"Then we'd still have to deal with the First Folk, and without any possible Dragon reinforcements. My way isn't pretty, I know, but it gets the job done. And after years being constantly surrounded by people trying to kill you, you come to just accept that the ends always justify the means."

"Do they?"

"They have to. I won't sit idly by and watch this whole planet die. I'm going to have to take action to stop it, and if that means killing or exploiting my friends and playing them off against my enemies, then so be it. At least some of them will be alive in the end. Plus, if we wait for the Councilman to make his move first, destroying him will be that much sweeter."

"You'd better be right. I'll go tell the others."

"You do that." Jigafta smirked. Breshet bounded back off to another cave where the squad the Council leased to them was staying. Jigafta meanwhile looked back at Fone once more, and thought he saw an ungodly light shine from his eyes. Jigafta shook his head, and walked back to the gunship to resume his work.

"Just hang in there, Jigafta." He muttered to himself. "Just a little more time."


	17. Chapter 16: Past and Future

Author's Note: As of June 27th, 2016, the entire fanfic has been rewritten. That means this chapter, all that came before it, and all that follow it now contain different content that they did previously. You are strongly encouraged to go back and reread the entire fanfic from the beginning, as the revised continuity may confuse you if you jump in part of the way through.

* * *

Torchlight flashes off of steel swords. The smell of the hairy men hangs heavy in the air. Men and boys are dragged out into the streets. A mother shields her two sons against the horrors of war. A soldier begins to yell at her. There is a struggle. The woman pulls out a concealed knife. She is cut down. Her sons are dragged away from her corpse, screaming. They are thrown down in front of a soldier, lined up next to dozens of their fellow townsmen. The soldier talks about honor and duty to the Chief. About the draft. The price their town must pay for defying the Hooded One. Another man is dragged into the group. It is the brothers' father. They look to him for comfort. He meets their gazes, and they see only defeat and shame in his eyes. They begin to weep.

"Rankyne!" Shouted Caydmar as he tried to wake his brother out of his trance. "Can you hear me? Rankyne?" Rankyne snapped out of his daydream.

"Yeah. I can hear you." He said coldly as he got up from his bed. "What do you want?"

"The meeting is about to resume. Would you care to grace us with your presence?" Caydmar asked sardonically.

"Why the hell not? Sure, let's go." The two of them left the tent. They walked in silence, and a minute later arrived in the central tent for the meeting. Sitting around the table with a map of the valley on it were Sybron Brook, President Phoncible, Jigafta Utenki, X'lish Trenya, Fone Bone, and Queen Thorn. In the corner of the room sat an unconscious bone captive guarded by the rat creature Bartleby. Caydmar and Rankyne took their seats, and Phoney started talking again.

"Thank you for joining us, Prince Rankyne. Now that everyone is present, we can resume the meeting. As you've probably all already heard, that APC we intercepted about two hours ago was no enemy. It was my cousin. Which puts the question of how much Glaian actually knows about our location back on the table." He walked over to the prisoner. "And based on the information this man gave us, we think Glaian is as of yet unaware of our present location. That having been said, six of his squads going missing in the same area at the same time won't go unnoticed. We probably only have a day, two at most, before he finds out exactly where we are and smokes us out. Which means we've got to make our move now." He walked back to the head of the table.

"But how does this change our options any? We still don't have a way of getting past his defenses, not to mention the fact that we're still outnumbered four thousand to one. Are you suggesting that we just blindly rush to our deaths?" Caydmar asked.

"No. We intercepted a transmission recently that drastically changes our options." Jigafta responded. "Only about half an hour ago, we hacked into an encrypted navy communications satellite and caught some fragments of a conversation between someone in Glaian's camp and someone in the UHF headquarters in Wadralia."

"The what?" Rankyne asked confused and slightly angry.

"The United Human Federation, based out of the country of Wadralia. If you had bothered to come to our meeting last week, you would know that." Caydmar retorted. Rankyne fumed, but didn't say anything.

"Anyway, we only know one person in the UHF with access to that communications network: Admiral Satranik Haenkos." Continued Phoney. "And from what we gathered from her transmission, she's planning a strike on Glaian's forces back home in the middle of some sort of ceremony Glaian will be hosting in Atheia at midnight, tomorrow night."

"Isn't that a Harvest Moon?" Asked Thorn.

"Yes it is. Which means that Glaian might try to use the Harvest Moon's ritualistic pull to free the "Crystal Councilman" the Council warned us about. Or, more probably, he knows that Harvest Moons hold a superstitious significance with the Valley people, so he might try something extravagant to show off his power and frighten everyone further. Whatever the case, he's likely to have the weakest defenses he'll have from now until his men are on our doorstep during whatever he's planning tomorrow night, so we'll strike him then. We've put together somewhat of a plan for-"

"Mr. Phoney!" Shouted a human as he burst through the tent flap. "There's a bug at the door that wants to see you!" Phoney glanced at Fone, who just shrugged.

"Send him in." He ordered the man. The guard left and a few moments later Ted leapt through the door.

"Ted, good to see you!" Fone shouted. He, Phoney and Thorn all got up to greet the new arrival.

"Hiyas Bone." He cheered back. "How've ya'll been holdin' up?"

"Good. We haven't heard from you since the invasion. What happened to the villagers?" Thorn asked.

"I didn't make it in time. They all got taken behind that big fence around the capital. But I did manage to make my way over to Old Man's Cave an' met up with Queen Rose and the Great Red Dragon. At least they're still alive an' kickin'."

"We suspected as much." Sybron Brook disclosed. "Now would someone like to explain why we are wasting our time conversing with an insect?"

"Oh yeah. I came over here form Old Man's Cave to bring ya'll a message."

"From Gran'ma Ben?" Thorn asked.

"Nope. From some bone woman who showed up outa the blue an' killed all the other bones surroundin' the place an' freed everyone. I think her same was Nibet or some such. I-"

"Did you say Nibet?" X'lish inquired. The tone in her voice became instantly menacing.

"Yes." Ted responded. He suddenly very afraid that she might squash him. "Do you know her?"

"You could say that." X;lish spat out. She was about to get up when Jigafta stopped her.

"Hey, don't blame the messenger." He asserted. "Let's just hear what your sister has to say."

"Screw that! I'm not listening to another word from that bitch!" She batted his hand aside. "I need to go cool off." She muttered as she started to leave the tent.

"I don't know what your history is with her, but she seemed like a nice person." Ted chimed. X'lish stopped.

"She does that you know. Makes you trust her. Gets on your good side. Then she puts a blade in your gut. Whoever you left with her is probably dead by now."

"X'lish!" Thorn shouted. "Don't say that!"

"It's true." X'lish cajoled as she turned to face Thorn. "The Dragon, your grandmother, everyone." She drew a line with her finger across her neck.

"X'lish, just because you lost your husband doesn't give you the right to take your anger out on Thorn's emotional fragility." Jigafta retorted. Thorn gave him a mild scowl. He grabbed X'lish's arm before she could leave, and dragged her back to her seat. "Now Ted." He continued. "What were you saying about Nibet? What can you tell us about her?"

"She helped us outa' a huge bind, an' the Great Red Dragon seemed to trust her after she started talkin' 'bout how she was forced to follow that bone guy Glaian's orders, and that she actually worked for someone inside his camp trying to take him down." Ted recounted.

"Did she say anything specific, or out of the ordinary?"

"She did mention something about a small blue crystal, does that help? I'm sorry I didn't hear anythin' else. I was pretty far away from the conversation." Jigafta sat for a moment.

"It helps, sort of." He finally spoke, breaking the incredibly awkward silence. He turned to X'lish, who was sitting impatiently in her chair. "I think your sister was controlled against her will to kill your husband." X'lish looked at him with slight confusion and disappointment. "I know what you think, but I have a hunch that this is all connects back to the Order's supplier. Will you trust me?" He looked from her to Phoney after he said that, who nodded slightly.

"Okay." She answered. "I'll trust you. But you'd better explain all of this later." X'lish's anger subsided, and everyone in the room breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"Now that… whatever the hell just happened is over, we can hear the bug's message and hopefully get somewhere with all of this." Rankyne interjected.

"Right." Phoney said. "Ted, talk."

"Well, Nibet says that Glaian's gonna be holdin' some big ceremony tomorrow night durin' the Harvest Moon, and it's gonna be the biggest party even seen. A real grand spectacle. Durin' this party, Nibet, Rose, the Dragon, and some of the soldiers are all gonna sneak into Glaian's main camp in one of those flyin' things and mess it all up. And she says she wants you to attack when she shoots off the signal, which is some sort of big red smoke column."

"Are there any particular targets?" Caydmar asked.

"Three or four, I think. The big fence in front of the city needs to come down so the humans can get free, a weapon storage facility on Sinner's Rock needs to be destroyed, you've got to smash all of the vehicles parked outside the eastern gate, an' you need to send a team to help the main force attack the temple where Glaian's holdin' the big event." Phoney and Sybron pondered the news for a few minutes. Sybron looked at Phoney, and the two of them reached a tacit understanding of the situation. Then Phoney began to pour fourth their new plan.

"Ted, can you get over to the human camp by tomorrow morning?" Phoney asked.

"If I leave right now, yeah. Anything you need me to tell 'em?"

"Tell as many people as you can to gather in front of the North gate tomorrow night. We can't bring that whole fence down, but we can put a hole in it big enough to get them out."

"Gotcha." He immediately jumped out of the tent and left for the city.

"So, boss, what's the plan?" Jigafta asked. Phoney cracked his knuckled and started issuing orders.

"We've only got one shot at this, so we'll need every ally and weapon we can possibly put into play."

"Please don't tell me we're going to get help from the rat creatures." Rankyne winced.

"That's exactly what we're going to do. Now I saw what the rats did to this valley almost six years ago firsthand, as did most of the rest of you, but the fact is that they live in this valley just like you. And, like Roque Ja, they could be made to see reason. So we'll be sending Bartleby, escorted by X'lish and her team, in one of the dropships to convince them to help us in the attack. Whether they can secure the rats' loyalty or not, she'll take her team and whoever they convinced to help us and meet up with my team, who will be carrying the majority of our explosives, to strike the vehicle depot at the east gate. We'll blow up the tanks and most of the APC's, and take the few that remain to the North gate to evacuate the humans."

"Who's going to be on the North gate team?" Fone asked.

"You and Thorn will take the dropship to blow a hole in the North gate fence and to defend the humans from attack until X'lish and I arrive with the evac transports. Then the four of us will move up and attack the temple with Nibet's force. That just leaves the weapons depot, which is where Glaian has most likely stashed his emergency plasma weapons. Breshet's Sky Legion and Roque Ja will clear out the cache while Caydmar and Rankyne destroy the ordinance with explosives. Then the princes and the dragons will move in to attack the city and make their way toward the temple as well."

"You're putting a lot of stock in the abilities of people that don't remotely know how to use our technology. Why can't I just do that instead?" Jigafta advanced.

"Because I need your infiltration skills for the most important job. These three groups need to be able to do their jobs for this plan to succeed, and that necessitates a huge distraction. We'll drop you off inside the walls prior to the signal flare going up. When Nibet fires it, you wreak havoc. Blow something up. Kill people. Do you. But be as loud about it as possible. Only after the defenders leave the wall will we strike our targets."

"How'll you get the dropship inside the walls without them spotting you? Don't they have ways of detecting cloaked objects?" Sybron asked.

"We managed to get a security password out of our captive. It should be viable for the next two days." X'lish responded. "So what do we do when we all get to the temple where Glaian is staying?"

"We kill him, simple as that. We'll move in from multiple directions to cut off his escape, and while the Dragons and human forces hold off his foot soldiers, you, Jigafta, Nibet and her forces, Fone, Thorn, Bartleby, Caydmar, Rankyne and I will move into the temple and take him out. Oh, and Sybron, you will be staying behind to co-ordinate our efforts and direct the strike teams. It's a long shot, but I think it can be done."

"A long shot is an understatement! How will we know how to work these explosives? Who will pilot the dropship to take Fone, Thorn and Jigafta to the gate? Does anyone on X'lish's or your team actually know how to drive an APC?" Rankyne shouted bewildered.

"Aside from you two boneheads, every human in this camp has spent every available second of the last two months learning how to work our technology. So after this meeting, Jigafta will teach you two how to arm plastic explosives and bring you up to speed on using guns. It isn't actually all that hard. Fone knows enough about flying to make it to the gate and land in one piece, and you two will be taking the Dragons to Sinner's Rock, so you don't have to worry about that. Any more questions from anyone?" No one responded.

"Good, now we move on to making preparations. X'lish, you prepare the explosives and tell the plan to Breshet. I'll tell Roque Ja to head over to Sinner's Rock when he next reports back. Jigafta, you take the princes aside and teach them how to do their jobs. Sybron, I'll be back in a few minutes to teach you how to run the communications network. Other than that, everyone go about your usual business. We'll meet again tonight during the meal to review the plan."

* * *

"Damn it!" Rankyne shouted as he threw down the handgun he was holding. "I don't understand these foul contraptions!" He and Caydmar stood on top of the temple with Jigafta, who had just finished teaching them the basics of handling a gun, and was now observing as they fired shots at cans placed along a flat rock as a makeshift firing range.

"What's not to understand? It's just point and pull. Like using a bow and arrow. But more satisfying." Caydmar jubilated as he loaded another magazine into the bottom of his gun. "Just relax and feel the shot."

"I have no idea what the hell that's supposed to mean." Rankyne complained. He bent down to pick his gun back up. "These things seem so unnatural. It's hard to believe they can propel a chunk of solid metal faster than sound. I just don't understand." He turned his gun over in his hands inquisitively.

"You don't have to understand." Jigafta retorted as he walked up to the twins. "You just have to shoot the target and kill it. Breath. Focus. Clear your head. It's easy if you put some effort into it."

"This seems so laughably insane. How do you expect me to master handling a weapon I don't understand in just over a day?"

"Caydmar seems to have gotten the hang of it pretty well." Jigafta motioned to Caydmar, who was knocking down cans left and right with his shots. "I'm sure you just need to focus a little more."

"Of course he can use a gun well, he's proficient at being empty headed. Someone seems to have finally invented a weapon that utilizes my brother's lack of thought. I'm quite charmed." Rankyne cajoled.

"I heard that!" Caydmar shouted back at Rankyne.

"Come on, just try it again." Mused Jigafta. "You've got nothing to lose, after all."

"Fine!" Rankyne shouted down at him. He walked back over to where Caydmar was standing and attempted once again to line up his sights. He pointed them at a can. He slowed his breathing and calmed his heartbeat. He closed his eyes to focus. He saw against the back of his eyelids the face of his father, eyes downcast, defeated. Rankyne's face twitched.

He was sitting with his brother in the middle of a tent. Their father sat slumped in a corner. A large table stood in between them and his father's brother, the second in command of the Pawan army. He was pacing back and forth, his face contorted in an expression of mock sympathy.

"Once again, I must express my deepest regret at the loss of your mother. I know how hard it must be to go through such an ordeal, but you must understand the importance of the mantle you are about to take up. The House of Mists needs fine warriors. Your father should be proud of what you are about to do."

Their father suddenly sprung to his feet and began shouting.

"You damn coward!" He rushed his brother and slammed him to the ground, pinning him with his body weight. "You're nothing but a bloodthirsty warmonger, hiding behind old traditions and taking pleasure in the suffering of others." He raise his fists to beat his brother senseless.

Guards rushed into the tent and dragged their father away. The guards threw him to the ground outside and beat him senseless as the boys watched. Their uncle stood up calmly and approached the brothers from behind.

"Such is the fate of traitors." He declared jauntily. Rankyne's rage boiled over.

He screamed in a burst of animalistic rage as he flicked open his eyes. Spinning around to strike his uncle, he fired a single round from his gun wildly in front of him, drawing him back into reality. He froze as he noticed that the few people on the rooftop preparing for the assault had all stopped what they were doing to stare at him. Even Caydmar had stopped his steady rhythm of shooting to look at his brother inquisitively.

"Hey look, you fired a shot. Lucky for us, you can't hit anything worth a damn." Jigafta Joked. "Maybe if you tried shooting your gun at the target instead of me, you'd achieve some sort of result."

"I'm done for today." Rankyne muttered as he walked past Jigafta. After a few moments, everyone resumed their work.

"I do not understand him in the slightest." Jigafta remarked as he walked over to where Caydmar was standing. "Well, since your brother quit on us and both of you seemed to have grasped the explosives well enough, I think you deserve a break."

"Thank you kindly, sir." Caydmar said as he began to follow after his brother. He turned back to face Jigafta briefly. "Don't worry about trying to understand Rankyne, no one can. I gave up trying to years ago."

"Well maybe it's time you start trying again. We don't want to be going into battle with loose emotions like his hanging around."

"I'll take that under advisement. See you at dinner." Caydmar left the roof and Jigafta alone. Jigafta began to follow after him when he heard a voice from behind him.

"Rough day with the kids, huh?" He turned around to see X'lish standing behind him.

"Sorry, didn't see you there. Lost in my own world I guess." He apologized.

"No, it's alright. Actually, I was looking for you. You said you'd explain about Nibet later. Well now is later. Explain." Jigafta looked around for a brief instant.

"Alright, fine. Do you remember the raid on the Order's proxy organization, the Boneville Explorers' Society?"

"How could I forget?"

"In their last expedition into the desert before we blew the place to bits, they brought back a lot of small blue crystals. I took one with me on a whim, and I managed to give it to Daniel for analysis before they caught us and shipped us away. It took him decades to figure it out, but right before his death he learned that the crystals had the ability to capture and alter a person's memories"

"I don't see what this has to do with my sister."

"Daniel also learned that the people who funded the Boneville Explorers' Society and the Order were backing Glaian's efforts, and sent Nibet into Glaian's camp to investigate. Then she turned to his side."

"So, are you saying Glaian stole her memories and make her think she worshiped him using a crystal? Do you know how insane that sounds?"

"It would also explain Daniel's sudden betrayal."

"How would Glaian have even gotten his hands on these things?"

"If he had access to the Order's old networks, then it wouldn't be impossible."

"But how would he have access? You just keep leading me on, get to the point already." X'lish began taping her foot impatiently.

"Well, the most likely way I can think of is if he was somehow related to someone who used to work in the Order."

"You aren't implying…"

"I am. I think Glaian might actually be Kelkaid Nagratek's son."

"How can you be certain? I thought we killed everyone in the raid twenty-five years ago?"

"We don't know for certain we killed everyone. Someone could have slipped past us. And, beyond that, Glaian said some very telling things during our fight that pointed to his relationship with Kelkaid."

"That's a wild theory." X'lish pondered it for a moment. "It's hardly believable, but I'm impressed that you put together all of those details in a few seconds."

"Oh come on. You met with a dragon just ten minutes ago to tell her the details of a plan to blow up a stockpile of plasma missiles with the help of twin human medieval princes and a giant talking cat. What's so hard to believe about a crystal that can alter memories? Or Glaian's relationship with another person named Nagratek?"

"I guess you have a point, but still… to think that my sister might be innocent. I can't say that I'm relieved, just more confused at who I should be angry at. And that doesn't sit well with me. You know how I deal with anger."

"At least take my words into consideration when you put a gun up to your sister's head. That's all I ask. She might not be as bad a person as you think." The two of them stood in silence for a minute.

"Well, I've got to get going. All of the explosives we'll need for the assault won't go prepare themselves. See you at dinner, I guess." Jigafta walked off, leaving X'lish standing on the roof of the temple by herself. Everyone else had moved onto other places to prepare other equipment. X'lish stared out at the setting sun.

"We shared our first kiss under a sunset like this one, didn't we Faldr." She muttered to herself. "Our last one to." She stared off at the city of Atheia in the distance. "It'd be just like you to leave me to clean up your mess." As she turned away from the scenery and back toward the work ahead of her, she shot one last glance at the horizon and shed a single tear.

* * *

Fone stared at his outstretched hand. During the meeting, he thought he saw his skin pulsing a faint golden glow. But when the meeting ended, it seemed to go away. It hadn't come back since.

"Fone, are you listening?" Thorn asked him. The two of them were sitting outside Thorn's tent waiting for dinner to start.

"Huh?" Fone snapped back out of his observational trance and realized he had spaced out in the middle of their conversation.

"We were talking, and you just started staring at your forearm. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, sorry. I can't place my finger on it, but Ever since I got back I've felt different somehow. Oh well. I'm probably just excited or on edge or something. What were you saying?"

"Before you got spacey on me, I was talking about our relationship. And, like I was saying, I don't really feel comfortable committing to a relationship right now. Emotions are running high all around the camp, and I'd hate to do something now that I'll regret later."

"But that's exactly why we need to resolve things now. We're going to be fighting for our lives and the future of the entire Valley tomorrow. We need to figure our relationship out before then or else something might happen and… I don't want either of us to have any regrets, that's all I'm saying."

"I don't really see how we can work things out though. I'm human. You're a bone. We're two completely different people from two completely different species."

"I fail to see how that factors into anything at this point."

"You might be right, this is all very new and very strange to me." She paused for a moment. "I guess the heart of the matter is I don't really know what I'm feeling right now. Yesterday, almost everyone I knew was dead, including you. Now your back and my grandmother is okay and all of these emotions keep confusing me and I don't know what to do and I don't want to do something now that when I've calmed down I'll regret and-"

"You keep using that word." Fone interrupted.

"What word?"

"Regret. You keep saying that you don't want to do anything that you'd regret." He looked her straight in the eyes. The light reflected in his pupils glowed like golden honey. "Do you regret anything that's happened between us so far?"

"I don't think I-"

"Let me rephrase the question. I love you. Do you love me?"

"I… well, I don't really know right now."

"That's fine." Fone said nonchalantly as he broke eye contact. "You need time, I get that. Just let me know when you have an answer." He stood up to leave. "Dinner will probably be ready soon. See you then." He walked away, leaving Thorn confused and slightly exhilarated behind him.

After he was out of Thorn's eyesight, he walked around a corner and practically collapsed on the ground. He sat up and leaned his head against the wall with a sigh.

"Good job not losing your shit back there." A voice said standing above him. Fone looked up to see Jigafta looming over him with a smirk on his face. "Most guys I know would have thrown up by now." Jigafta reached out his hand.

"Just give it a few minutes." Fone said as he accepted the hand and stood himself up. "Were you watching the whole time?" Fone asked sheepishly.

"Not all of it, just at the important part. The species line is a tough one to cross, but know you aren't the first one to try. I was in love with a human once too."

"Really? How'd that work out?"

"It didn't. I'm a professional killer. My occupation doesn't exactly lend itself to attachments outside the field. And besides that, she died of some disease or something years ago."

"That isn't exactly the most encouraging thing you could have told me. In fact, it was mildly depressing."

"Well what I meant to say was don't hesitate. I did. Don't be me, and everything should work out fine."

"Well, thanks for that I guess. I'm going to head over to the mess tent and grab some dinner. Are you coming?"

"In a second. I've got some stuff to do. See you in a few." They parted ways, and Fone walked off toward the mess hall with a wildly enthusiastic grin on his face. Jigafta rolled his eyes and made his way through a series of winding hallways to the end of a small, obscure passageway that lead to the far end of the mountain where he awaited Breshet's arrival. He leaned against the entrance and stared up at the sky.

"The kid's got heart, huh." Breshet said sarcastically as she swooped down to their secluded meeting spot.

"I only hope he works his relationship with the Queen out better than I did with Ven."

"A traitor like you doesn't have the right to pronounce her name after what you did to her. What you're still doing to her."

"I didn't choose any of this, Breshet, I was forced into it. You should know that pain better than most, seeing how your father was the Nacht."

"I'd advise you not to bring that topic up here. I don't handle well when provoked." She snorted. Tongues of flame spurted out from her nostrils.

"Point taken, I'll back off. So what did you want?"

"The creature you call Fone is losing control. Surely you've seen the Spark pulse at the surface as I have?"

"I know we're running out of time, but what do you want me to do? I don't have enough energy stored yet to perform an operation difficult enough to dislodge it. I think we're going to have to use the Cipher."

"You can't be serious. It isn't ready yet, and if the Councilman breaks free, we'll need the stored energy. You need to act now, before we lose control of the situation."

"I don't think we have a choice at this point. Tell the others to prepare the Cipher for use, and pray we don't have to. I've got to get back." He turned and entered back through the entrance.

"I don't think you're telling me everything. Something has you spooked. What is it?"

"There's been a Nightmare Entity behind recent events."

"Last time I checked in with Shard, they were all imprisoned."

"I know, he told me the same thing. I think Deyavara might our culprit."

"I thought he was dead."

"In light of recent events, such as the convenient reemergence of nightmare eggs in more than one location, and Phoney's mentor being directly involved in Glaian's rise to power, I'm not so sure he's really gone. There are pieces moving around in the shadows. Things I can almost grasp and make sense of. And If I'm right, we're also going to need Shard's help. Tell him to get his ass down here as fast as he can." He walked back through the entrance and disappeared down the hall. Breshet sighed and took off to do as he asked.

On a mountain peak in the distance, feline eyes watched the meeting. Roque Ja lay on his perch, watching the entertainment laid out before him. Standing beside him was a bone with a large scar running down his dead left eye.

"So he figured out that I'm alive already. Did I make it that obvious?" The Scarred Bone muttered to himself.

"You could hear that conversation from this distance? I guess I shouldn't be surprised, you are a member of the House of Mists."

"I've never understood this local obsession with linking the Nightmare Entities to the Locust. We never existed at the same time and certainly never worked toward his ends."

"The old legends say you were made from his essence. That should be enough to grant you status as a member of the House even without your numerable inadvertent contributions to the Locust's cause."

"Enough idle conversation. I'm just here to re-affirm that you are aware of your orders."

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Your people have a history of disappointing us."

"I'm not my ancestors. I know when I'm outclassed."

"Good. Then I shall return to Atheia. All of the pieces seem to be falling into place. This might be easier than we thought."

"If you would indulge me for a moment before you go, may I ask why you do not just kill them now?"

"Because I need despair to free my master. And despair is at its most potent when born from the highest zenith of hope. You need only plant the seed at the proper time, and it will all come crashing down. Now I must go. Remember to do your job." The scarred bone disappeared into one of the shadows cast upon the ground by the fading light. Roque Ja turned his eyes back to the temple and licked his lips hungrily. He could barely contain himself, for tomorrow night he would feast upon royal flesh.


	18. Chapter 17: Foundations

Author's Note: As of June 27th, 2016, the entire fanfic has been rewritten. That means this chapter, all that came before it, and all that follow it now contain different content that they did previously. You are strongly encouraged to go back and reread the entire fanfic from the beginning, as the revised continuity may confuse you if you jump in part of the way through.

* * *

"…but only after we emerged from the entrance to the temple did we realize that the worst had happened. Fallen trees covered the land, ash clogged up the sky, and as far as we could see only inky blackness awaited on the horizon." Fone paused for a moment to gauge the crowd. He, Thorn, Caydmar, Rankyne, Phoney, Jigafta, and X'lish were all sitting around a small circular table in the mess tent. It was barely big enough to fit all of their standard issue army rations on, but somehow they made it work. Bartleby was lying at Phoney's feet gnawing on the bone of an animal he had killed two days ago, Sybron was sitting with Delwin Curtiss and the other council members they rescued from the palace at a table at the far end of the mess hall, and Alex and Tom Elm, with Roderick perched on his shoulder, sat close by with the other soldiers, pretending not to listen but hanging on Fone's every word.

"What happened then?" Caydmar asked excitedly. He was poised on the edge of his seat waiting to hear the final third of the tale.

"You guys have had enough for today." Fone responded as he took his last bite of food. "Besides, Thorn, Phoney and I have been telling this story long enough. It's high time somebody else get a turn to talk."

"But I wanted to hear the end." Caydmar slumped back into his seat disappointed.

"What if one of us dies tomorrow?" Rankyne asked. "We'll pass on without ever having heard the conclusion to the greatest story ever told. How's that fair?"

"Well there's a simple solution to your predicament." X'lish retorted sarcastically. "Don't die." A slightly detached and depressed look spread across Rankyne's face.

"I doubt there's a possibility of that happening." He muttered depressingly.

"Come on Rankyne, keep a positive attitude. Compared to the last few weeks, I'm betting tomorrow will be a piece of cake." Jigafta interjected, trying to cheer Rankyne up.

"Easy for you to say, you're a professionally trained killing machine. You know how to use a gun. And you don't have to arm high explosives in a cave full of more high explosives." Rankyne shot back caustically.

"Ok, calm down." Phoney urged. "What's the point of telling stories if we immediately build back up whatever tension we relieve? Now does anyone else have any interesting stories to tell?"

"I've got a question actually." Thorn addressed X'lish and Jigafta. "How exactly did you two get exiled from the Republic? From what I've heard, you were national heroes. What happened to get you branded as criminals and thrown out of your own country by your own people?"

"National heroes?" X'lish exclaimed. She immediately burst out laughing intensely, and slapped her knee for effect. She glanced at Jigafta to try to elicit a response, but he just stared at her disapprovingly. Eventually she recovered enough breath to speak again in between chuckles. "Is that what the President told you? Or maybe your new boyfriend said that." Thorn blushed slightly, and Fone began looking at things that didn't let people make eye contact with him.

"X'lish, what did I say about antagonizing people?" Jigafta asked. Laced in his voice was a slight menace that put everyone in the room on edge, but only for a moment. Then it was gone.

"Sorry, boss." She apologized sheepishly. She turned back to Thorn. "The general populace wasn't aware that we existed until or last operation twenty-five years ago. Then we blew up one of the largest buildings in Boneville and slaughtered an entire secluded village. The President couldn't overlook our actions any longer after that. But I suppose I'm getting a little ahead of myself aren't I?" She looked around the table, and the humans seemed genuinely intrigued, so she continued recounting her tale.

"I guess we should start at the beginning then huh?" She leaned back in her chair and pondered for a moment. "My sister Nibet and I were brought up in a cult called the "Order of the Hollow Soul" who were obsessed with ancient artifacts that they claimed held the key to resurrecting some sort of god. To that end, they controlled a private research conglomerate that acted as a cover so the Order could extract the artifacts they were seeking from the ancient pre-diaspora ruins in the wasteland that separates our country from this valley."

"Pre dia-what-now?" Caydmar asked.

"Oh right, I keep forgetting none of you know anything about bone history. Sometime between three and five thousand years ago the bones had great civilizations spanning the deserts. And then some sort of great calamity or political upheaval struck them and they all moved to the lusher green lands to the west. That was called the diaspora. But that's beside the point. The point is that the Order's actions drew the attention of a lot of people, and they made a lot of enemies. So they began training from birth a small army of killers to protect the higher ranking members and eliminate threats to their "master plan". My sister and I were the daughters of the number three in the Order and the best students in our class for assassin training."

"One day, a hit gets put out on the team we would soon become a part of: Jigafta, Faldr, Victor Bone, and Satranik Haenkos. Needless to say, we failed to kill them. Instead, one of our own betrayed us and several of our teammates were heavily injured. After the dust settled, Nibet and I were taken into the government's custody, and eventually we were shone what a sham the Order was. As it turns out, the Order had been growing a lot of drugs and selling those drugs, along with illegal armaments, hideous amounts of contraband, endangered species, captured orphans and runaways, the government secrets of small developing nations, and these so-called artifacts of power on the black market. Oh, and they hired my sister, my friends and I as common thugs for the highest bidder to make extra cash on the side. Needless to say, we didn't take it well, but eventually we agreed to help take down the organization we once belonged to."

"We ran around a lot after that, jumping from city to province hunting leads and taking down isolated operations and proxy criminal organizations. At some point, Faldr proposed to me and I accepted and we got married. Never had any kids though. Eventually we beat the Order back so much that all that was left was the Order's base in Boneville and the small forest town I was trained in. Faldr, Victor and Nibet attacked the town while Jigafta, Satranik and I took out their headquarters. We didn't spare a soul. But after you collapse a skyscraper to its foundations and spend almost an hour rooting though the wreckage blasting people in the face angrily even though Jigafta told you to keep a low profile, the public tends to take notice. Jigafta and I were arrested, not for the first time mind you, but the government couldn't make up an excuse for us this time. You see, only a handful of people in the FIC were ever aware of the extent of our operations, so they cut ties with us and left us to our fate rather than face the horrible ensuing public relations disaster."

"We were tried in criminal court after that. The judge condemned us to death, but we broke out the night after the trial. The two of us then fled to a small island in the Wadral Sea, and Faldr and Nibet joined up with us several days later. From there on we lived out our days mostly on a beach we bought with stolen money drinking margaritas be bought with stolen money laughing about how little killing we had done recently. Good times. You know the rest."

"Wow." Rankyne said as he stared at X'lish stunned by what he just heard. "Your talent for storytelling is simply… breathtaking."

"Hey. Thorn asked, I answered. I don't see the problem."

"Well… Thorn, Fone and Phoney just spent over two hours and a half hours giving us the highlights of five months of their lives, and you just glanced over at least forty years in under ten minutes. Just… not a good follow up is all I'm saying."

"Well at the very least it was informative." Thorn interjected to move the conversation along. She turned to Phoney and Fone. "Though you guys probably knew all of that already, right?" She noticed for the first time that Fone's face had turned sour. He looked from X'lish to Jigafta to Phoney back to X'lish.

"No, this information is new actually." He directed his answer more at X'lish than Thorn. "What day did you say your final operation took place on?"

"I didn't." She answered hesitantly. "But if you want to know, August fifth. Why do you ask?" Fone didn't respond. He turned his gaze instead to Jigafta and Phoney. Jigafta turned to address Phoney as well.

"You didn't tell him, did you?" Jigafta asked.

"I wasn't planning on it." Phoney replied. He rolled his eyes as turned to Fone. "And before you ask any more questions, I suggest we take this outside the tent before things get heated. Understand? I wouldn't want anyone else getting involved in this." Fone and Jigafta nodded, and X'lish consented without really knowing what was happening just to move things forward. The four of them proceeded outside, and as soon as they cleared the tent flaps, Fone began talking again.

"So let me get this straight." Fone stared at Phoney with a cold, furious gaze. "You knew this whole time you were working with two of the people that had a hand in both our parents' deaths? At what point were you going to tell me any of this?"

"I wasn't." Phoney responded. "I didn't want you to know. It would have only hindered the effectiveness of our battle strategy. And besides, that isn't-" Fone cut him off.

"And here I was thinking we might be able to put the past behind us." Fone shook his head. "But it appears that you still think you know what's best for me." Phoney stood still for awhile.

"I'm going to say two things. First: I'm sorry. Over the past two months, I've done a lot of thinking about what you said in the dropship, and I realized I might have been a bit… controlling. But I assure you that I only wanted what was best for you, and I hope in the future we can move past our differences." Fone was rather taken aback by Phoney's sudden confession. "Second: These people didn't kill your parents or my parents."

"Now that I don't believe." Fone shot Jigafta and X'lish a piercing gaze. "They admitted they blew up a skyscraper on August fifth. That's the exact day the Boneville Explorers' Society headquarters mysteriously collapsed. They had to have been involved."

"We may have collapsed the building." Jigafta interjected. "But your parents died before we even arrived." Fone whirled around to face him.

"Don't give me that! Even if you didn't kill them directly, I've seen the coroner's report. I know they died of burns and puncture wounds caused by the collapse of the building!" Fone shouted back, his voice on the edge of breaking down or flipping out.

"That was a cover story. They were actually our agency's informants inside the Order. One day they went dark, and we knew they had been caught. We tried to extract them when we moved in to take down the Order for good, but we arrived too late."

"Wait what?" Fone asked, all of his anger suddenly derailed into confusion. "Are you saying my parents were spies or something?"

"Well, technically they were archeologists and explorers. But when we showed them exactly where all of their funding came from, they were disgusted, and agreed to gather intelligence on the Order to bring against them in court. And to root out what few cells they still had planted across the provinces. When they were discovered, the Order made an example out of them. The Order rounded up Henry's siblings and their spouses, and put them all to death. Unfortunately, the exact circumstances of the deaths remain a mystery to this day, since we lost most of the camera footage when the building came down."

"So my parents died because of your carelessness?"

"Oh would you calm down?" X'lish sighed. "Henry and Janet died trying to serve their country. Be proud of that." She turned to Jigafta and whispered in his ear. "He is Henry and Janet's son, right?" Jigafta gave a small nod. Fone, his anger subsiding, turned to Phoney for confirmation.

"It's true." He nodded. "I found out when I first took office."

"And you weren't going to tell me this?" Fone asked, looking for any remaining details to ignite his anger.

"Based on how you took the news, do you really think I made the wrong decision?"

"Well…" Fone paused. "I suppose, in this instance, no. But next time you find out some information that alters important details of my past, don't hesitate to share." Phoney placed his hand over his heart in a mocking imitation of swearing an oath.

"I swear that next time I learn anything important about your past, I'll tell you right away no matter how bad you take the news. Is this over now?"

"Yes, Phoney, this is over. We can go back to eating our food." Fone rolled his eyes. "But we still need to talk about your attitude."

"I think you mean your attitude." Phoney jeered as the four of them reentered the tent and took their seats again.

"What was all of that about?" Thorn asked Fone as he sat back down.

"Nothing." He replied. "Just a small misunderstanding. Apparently my dad was accidentally employed in a cult before he died. Who knew?"

"That must have made for an interesting childhood." Caydmar remarked.

"Yeah… so I was an orphan."

"That must have been nice." Rankyne muttered not as quietly as he would have liked to.

"Oh don't say that." Caydmar admonished his brother. "Mom and dad did the best they could to raise us, given the circumstances."

"Yeah, well their best ended up being getting killed in front of us and watching as we were dragged off into a war we wanted no part in, respectively. Not exactly what I'd call a stellar upbringing."

"Sounds like you've got an intriguing story to tell." Phoney said, probing to try to get Rankyne to come out of his shell.

"Yeah, well Caydmar can tell it then. I'm headed off to bed." Rankyne got up from the table and walked out of the tent.

"He's been rather distant lately." Jigafta remarked quizzically.

"Yeah, well I think this whole ordeal is beginning to remind him of our life during the war five years ago. Hell, even I still sometimes have nightmares about it all." Caydmar said in defense.

"Since we're all sharing stories, why don't you tell us what happened to you two that made Rankyne so upset?" Thorn asked.

"It isn't exactly the most heartwarming of stories."

"My parents were killed by my great aunt when I was five." Thorn coerced.

"My parents tried to cut my ears when I was a baby." Bartleby chimed in.

"My sister and my husband killed my father." X'lish remarked. "Though, technically I wanted to be the one to do it, so it probably doesn't count as something traumatic." Everyone around the table stared at her for a few seconds. She shrugged.

"Anyway…" Thorn started back up. "Everyone here has had their share of personal and familial challenges. Except maybe Jigafta, I still haven't got him figured out yet." She looked at the man in question. He continued to exude the feeling that he wasn't all there.

"And you never will." He responded without looking at her, instead staring quite discreetly at Fone.

"Whatever. The point is, whatever happened to you in your past, you can tell us. We'll understand."

"Very well then." Caydmar rubbed his hands together and prepared to unleash his story. "We weren't always royalty. Our father was the brother of the second in command of the Pawan army, but that wasn't much of a title since his parents disowned him and sent him to live a life as a common farmer on one of the fringe towns along the Atheian-Pawan border. We lived an okay life, I guess. Dad wasn't much good on a farm, so a lot of the villagers pitched in to help when they could until we were old enough to do the work ourselves. He wasn't the best parent either. He was indecisive at times, and a little hard on us, but he tried his best. Nothing particularly bad happened to us, as far as I can remember. We worked on the farm, chased girls, hung around town, the usual."

"Then one day, we were both nineteen at the time, soldiers stormed into the village. We had heard rumors that the chief had allied himself with a hooded figure in control of a large army of hairy men, but we didn't think much of the far-off politics of the central kingdom until that day. Apparently the leader of our village had refused to impose a draft on us, and his rebellious sentiment drew the wrath of the Hooded One's forces."

"They overran the town in minutes, crippling anyone that got in their way. They broke into our home and tried to drag us away so they could impress us into service. We were scared shitless because we had never been in any real danger before, so my brother and I both froze on the spot. But our mom refused to consign us to the army. They killed her when she resisted. Everything was sort of a blur after that. They took us and our father, who they captured while he was working in the fields, to his brother's camp where we were to be processed. Our uncle sneered at our father, called him a coward, and had his men beat him regularly. We were left relatively untouched though. Eventually, after months of training, we were considered ready to be a part of the great push back against our "natural enemy". Our father was a part of the strike force that attacked Atheia, while Rankyne and I were both assigned to the regiment that was to reinforce the assault on Old Man's Cave."

"It was a slaughter at Old Man's Cave when we arrived, and then things only got worse. That… massacre could hardly be called a battle at all. People died in droves on both sides, and that was before the mountain exploded and sent the whole battlefield tumbling even further into chaos. We barely managed to make it out alive. And when we did, we were two of maybe a dozen Pawans to do so. All of us were taken prisoner by the Venu monks. We sat in a prison cell for weeks, it seemed like. The conditions were horrible, and it seemed like we weren't going to make it, until one day Sybron Brook himself released us and told us that the war was over. And that we had lost. Not that we were particularly sad about the outcome though. Apparently our father had also survived. He hid himself in a cave until he surrendered to a passing group of Atheian soldiers. With the Chieftain slain by the Hooded One and our uncle dead at Sinner's Rock, the Atheian Council elected to put our father in power, officially making our family royalty."

"Not that it improved out family's situation much. Our mother was still dead, as the dead tend to be, our father didn't talk to us, and Rankyne had begun distancing himself from me, becoming standoffish and removed most of the time. And to make matters worse, our father wasn't even that good of a leader. In fact the people pretty much despised him. He was mostly a shut in who left all of his work to his advisors and his council, and when he did make public appearances, he stumbled over himself and generally made a mess out of everything. He struggled to cope with what a massive failure he had been for us and for our mom, I guess. But we'll never know the answer, because a little over a year and a half ago he swallowed a vial of poison and died, leaving us in charge of a crumbling country."

"I didn't know what to do, but Rankyne didn't want to repeat our father's mistakes. So he set to work rebuilding the kingdom. Unfortunately, the responsibility weighed heavy on him. He became erratic, moody, arrogant, and violent even. We'd both had nightmares ever since we got out of that prison, but I think Rankyne took everything particularly hard after our dad died because his seemed to get more vivid and more frequent. I wasn't ever able to get a coherent response about it out of him though, so I stopped trying."

"Well I think you should try again." Phoney suggested.

"Yeah Jigafta said the same thing. But I'm at a loss at where to start."

"You're his brother. You don't have to start anywhere in particular. Just ask him what's wrong, and if he doesn't tell you, call his bluff and keep pressing the issue. At least do something. Make some sort of effort. Because come tomorrow night, the enemy won't care what grieves your brother, they'll kill him all the same. And he won't be able to put up any sort of fight with baggage like that. You need to get through to him, for his sake."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I suppose trying again can't hurt. Thanks for the pep talk."

"Well its getting really late, and I'm really tired, and I've got to go find and convince an army of smelly rat-men to join us tomorrow, so I think I'm going to turn in now." X'lish said as she stood up from her seat. "See you guys in the morning." She walked out of her tent.

"Same here. I'm bushed." Thorn said. "Come on Fone, let's hit the sack." She walked out of the tent yawning.

"Sure thing." Fone got up to leave as well. Eventually everyone began filing out of the tent alone or in small groups until only Jigafta, Phoney, and Caydmar remained.

"Find your brother." Jigafta said out of the blue.

"Fine. No point in putting it off any longer." Caydmar too got up and left the tent. Then it was just Phoney and Jigafta. As Jigafta got up to leave, Phoney stopped him.

"I need you to level with me." He said.

"I beg your pardon?" Jigafta replied.

"You may have everyone else fooled, but I know you're hiding something. Something big. Something that could affect the whole group, maybe even the outcome of this war. I need to know what it is."

"I can't tell you." Jigafta replied, eyes downcast.

"Why not?"

"I've made a lot of mistakes in my time on this earth, but keeping my past and your cousin's past a secret do not number among them. And they still don't."

"My cousin's past? What do you mean? What does this have to do with Fone?"

"I can't say much more yet. Too much information could destabilize the whole situation. I'll tell you everything when events necessitate it."

"You're not making a whole lot of sense. How could too much information destabilize the situation? And why do I get the feeling that you aren't talking about our fight with Glaian?"

"Glaian? He's small time. A mere preface for what is to come. I'm not concerned with him. He'll fall tomorrow like so many other upstarts who read a name and thought they could emulate the power that came with it without understanding the price that needs to be paid. But what does concerns me is the forces he has tried to put in motion."

"The Crystal Councilman."

"Bingo."

"Wait… Does that mean you've run into the councilman before?"

"Damn it. I said too much again. Listen, try to forget everything I just told you. You'll sleep better. I'll make everything clearer when Glaian is dead and a definite outcome has been achieved. Until then, just wait a little longer. Too much knowledge can be just as damaging as not enough." Jigafta began to leave the tent again.

"I've got one final question." Phoney stared at the back of Jigafta's head. He didn't respond, but Phoney asked anyway. "I've got a pretty good idea of who you are. Possibly. But I've got a hunch that you aren't the only one of your kind. How many of you are there?"

"There were many of us once. Now, hopefully, there are only a handful, and even that estimate is optimistic."

"And would my cousin number among them?" Jigafta was silent for a while. Then he spoke, ignoring the query entirely.

"Get some sleep, President Phoncible P. Bone. You're going to need it." Jigafta left the tent after that. Phoney stood there, alone in a dark room, thinking on all he had just learned. And after a while, he decided to take Jigafta's response to his question as a yes.

* * *

"Hey Rankyne." Caydmar said as he entered their tent. "Can I talk to you for a second?" Only after Caydmar fully entered the tent did he realize that he was talking to an empty room. "Damn." He muttered to himself as he ducked back out of his tent. Right as he emerged, he spotted Jigafta leaving the mess hall. Caydmar ran up to him and asked

"Hey, do you know where Rankyne went? He isn't in our tent."

"He isn't? I can't say I know where he is. But if I had to wager, I'd say he's on the roof, clearing his head or something. It's where I'd be anyway."

"Thanks." Caydmar ran off in the direction of the roof entrance. As he approached the entrance, he heard muffled shouting and a metallic object being repeatedly hit against stone. Caydmar slowed down, and walked up the stairs as quietly as possible. As he reached the top, he saw his brother sitting on the ground staring at a singular can placed on the ledge that earlier had served as their firing range. In front of him, his sidearm lay discarded on the ground.

"Having trouble?" Caydmar asked as he approached his brother. Rankyne looked back up at him with confusion in his eyes.

"You say guns are easy to understand. Jigafta says I don't have to understand. I think you're both wrong. I can't understand it, but I have to. Does that make any sense?" He cast his eyes back down and started to stare at the weapon in front of him.

"No, frankly, it doesn't." Caydmar said as he sat down next to his brother. "I think you feel like you need to understand it, but you keep telling yourself you can't, in order to keep yourself from using it."

"But why? I'm not afraid of it, I have no reason not to want to use it, so why can't I bring myself to?"

"Maybe we should approach the problem from a different angle. I don't think you don't want to understand the gun. I think you don't want to accept help from the bones."

"And what makes you say that?"

"Well, you don't want to end up like father. You believed he was a coward-"

"I'm not our father and he was a coward." Rankyne interrupted.

"I didn't say you were and I'm not saying he wasn't, just let me finish. You don't want to be a coward, so that means not backing down from a fight, not shying away from a challenge. That's why you want to master this so badly, and why you want to be of use in the attack tomorrow."

"I figured it out that far. Do you have anything else to add, oh wise one?" Rankyne asked sarcastically.

"Possibly. I think that same drive to not be dad also drives you not to trust people. You believe he was weak. And you don't want to be weak, which you see as taking charge and never accepting help from anyone. Which is why you don't want to master the gun and you don't want to go ahead with the attack tomorrow, because both were ideas suggested by the bones, people you don't want to trust, but also want to help. Does that make any sense?"

"Maybe. I don't know. Ever since dad died, I haven't really understood what's been going on. I'm just so afraid that I'll end up like him." Rankyne clenched his fist. "He was a colossal failure, and I feel like I'm destined to repeat his mistakes, but I can't see an out."

"You are repeating his mistakes." Caydmar said, all of the pieces finally clicking into place.

"What!" Rankyne shouted, jumping up and pulling back his arm to strike Caydmar. "Say that again, I dare you!" Caydmar just sat in his spot on the ground and looked up at his brother.

"Well you certainly aren't a coward."

"Are you calling me weak then? Huh? Out with it, let me hear you say it again!"

"Dad wasn't weak. There is no weakness in accepting help from others. Without the kindness of the villagers, do you think he would have been able to scrape out a living for us in our first few years in this world? I don't think so. I'd call that strength, if anything. You're like dad because, like him, you don't understand what it is that you need to be doing. I don't think he ever got over being disowned by his family, and because of that he was always distant, just a bit. Like he didn't know his place in the world anymore, like he was just going through the motions. You seem to have forgotten all of that however. You were so focused on being the ruler our father wasn't you became the person he was on a very crucial level. And to hide that form yourself, you created a false dichotomy in your mind that relied on false characteristics of your idea of who father was so that trying not to be dad could be blamed for that change in your personality." Rankyne dropped his raised fist.

"And that means?"

"You can't reconcile your ideas about who you are and who dad was so you created a situation where that could be acceptable. You lied to yourself." Caydmar stood up next to Rankyne and placed his hand on his brother's shoulder.

"If you really want to prove that you aren't father, then you have to try to understand people again. You have to try to understand yourself again. Stop antagonizing, stop cajoling, and stop putting up a front. From now on, you have to be completely honest with yourself and everyone else, or at least as honest as you can be."

"Well, if I'm going to start being honest," Rankyne said as he walked over to where the handgun rested on the ground and picked it up. "I'm really angry right now. Not at you, or Phoney, or Jigafta, or anyone here. I'm angry at Glaian. We spent years of our lives trying to bring order to the Pawan kingdom, and he brought that all crashing down in a day, taking thousands of our subjects captive and killing who knows how many more." He held the gun in his hand. "And if these bones can give me the power to tear his empire to shreds in kind, I don't really care about anything else." Slowly he leveled it, aimed it at the can, closed his eyes, opened them again, and pulled the trigger. The can popped off of the ledge.

"Satisfying, isn't it?" Caydmar asked. His brother nodded in agreement. "Though, when we're on the battlefield, taking your time and closing your eyes to focus won't be luxuries you'll be afforded."

"Yeah, I know. I'm going to have to keep practicing, which sucks. But at least I'll be going into battle tomorrow with a clear goal in mind. That has to count for something, right?"

"It'll count for less if you get yourself killed, but yeah, I get what you mean. Come on, let's go to bed. We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow." The two brothers walked back down the stairs and back to their tent. Sulking in one of the many shadows along their path, Jigafta afforded himself a tiny smile as he watched the composed, tranquil expression on Rankyne's face that had supplanted his previously conflicted emotions.

"This might turn out okay after all." He muttered to himself.

* * *

Glaian looked out at the city he had conquered from the veranda at the top of the temple tower. Everywhere he looked he saw order, stability, and zeal. His army came into these backwards lands and made them right. But his message had not spread beyond the walls he saw before him. Daunting and resilient things, they symbolized just how much his actions had trapped him. He could not crush all of the humans in one swift blow, and now he and his soldiers would serve as an object to focus all of the human's rage on. Instead of breaking them, he made them stronger. Stronger than he had intended.

Hope had begun to seep back into the camp outside his walls. Dangerous amounts of it. And that unbridled hope could prove to be his undoing. But it mattered little to him. These concerns were but small musings compared to his goals. He would crush the humans. He had decided to do so, and his decisions were law. If he thought he would champion over them, he would. There was simply no other alternative. And tomorrow, after the ceremony, when his forces went out and captured Phoncible and his cousin and made them watch as he executed each and every one of their precious humans, he would show them how small their hope was. He would make this whole valley an altar upon which his hatred and vengeance would flow forth to bring to life humanity's greatest enemy: The Crystal Councilman.

He had heard whispers of the Councilman since he was a child growing up in his father's cult. He heard the name mentioned in passing again when he was approached by the same benefactor that funded the Order of the Hollow Soul, but he failed to recognize the connection. Even after he and Archibald found the Councilman's prison several years ago, he still couldn't fully believe that his father's last words had meant everything they did. Only now, in this valley, with all of the evidence at his fingertips, did he know that freeing the Councilman was all along the goal he and Archibald had been working toward. And when he brought the Councilman back to life, he would unleash this power on all of the humans of the world. This scourge on his people would burn, and the Bones would take their rightful place in the world.

He opened the door behind him and descended back into the main chamber of the temple. Awaiting him were his soon-to-be-ordained generals: Izaroth, Glaian's fourth in command, was a natural born leader. Only age 25, and already he excelled more than any other soldier in the field. Additionally his tactical prowess had given them swift victory in the East. Glaian decided to give this prodigy his own army to lead against Admiral Satranik's forces. The other two, twin brother and sister, were great athletes and public figures, recruited by Glaian's benefactor shortly before the conquest of the Republic. They had personally spearheaded the assault that took down the government's Southern forces, and inspired great pride among Glaian's soldiers. Additionally, they had some past relation to the Order of the Hollow Soul, making Glaian's message easier for them to swallow. They were less important than Izaroth, as they were less tactically versed, but putting them on the front was good for both public goodwill and troop morale.

Izaroth was the first to speak when the three of them noticed Glaian had come to address them. The twins hung back, the woman whispering things into her taller brother's ear. She was very slender, while her brother bore more muscle than Glaian had ever seen before on a Bone.

"Lord Glaian, to what do we owe the pleasure? Shouldn't you be asleep, resting yourself in preparation for the ceremony tomorrow?" Izaroth asked. It was questions such as this that made Glaian happy he choose Izaroth to lead the domestic forces, and to succeed him if anything were to happen. He had an intuition and a bravery in the face of authority the others lacked. Glaian would need that if he was to bend the world to his will.

"Vengeance never sleeps, Izaroth. These humans must pay for everything they have done to our people, our culture and our way of life. I cannot sleep while I anticipate their destruction. I find that the feeling consumes me too wholly. Fret not, for I have the reserves necessary to see us through the tasks at hand."

"I'm sure Izaroth did not mean to imply that you had transgressed in some way, great one. He must have simply been so overwhelmed by your Lordship's stamina that he forgot himself." The sister of the twins spoke with a slight smirk.

"He does not need to apologize, Nemyunoi, and you do not need to apologize for him. He has spoken his honest opinion, and I respect that." He took a step closer to Nemyunoi and she backed away slightly, fearing some sort of violent reaction. "What I do not respect is you trying to take advantage of what you perceived as a mistake to try to further some sort of hidden agenda through false pretenses. I will not tolerate a power struggle between you two." He looked at both of them sternly. "Izaroth is in charge. This is the last I will hear of it." He backed off, and Nemyunoi breathed a sigh of relief. He had seen right through her, but at least she was still alive. Her brother Wunkhani just stayed silent.

Just then, Nibet stepped through the doors at the far side of the room. With her walked in a tall bone wearing a cloak. Glaian had seen his face before, but he couldn't place where.

"Ah, Nibet. Good to see you again. How did the search for the traitor go?"

"It didn't, Lord Glaian, I apologize. We could find no fault in our security or cause to suspect any member of the army. The conclusion the investigation team reached was that the intruder was here before we occupied the city, not after."

"That does complicate things." Glaian mulled this over for a moment. He looked at his generals, and motioned them to leave him be. They obliged, and Nemyunoi gave Nibet an odd look as she left the room. When Glaian spoke again, the only other two people in the room were Nibet and the new stranger, who had both moved closer to him. "I can only assume that the intruder was either Phoncible or his cousin Fone, since no other living bone was aware of the Valley prior to our invasion. If that is the case, there is no more cause for concern. The break out was circumstantial, and poses no threat to our safety."

"That kind of hubris will be your undoing." Spoke the cloaked bone.

"Who dares speak to me in such a manner?" Glaian asked. These rebellious types intrigued him the most. Out of every flavor of emotion he had consumed over the years, their audacity was the most potent, the most pleasing.

"I have no name, but I speak on with the authority of the Great Lord." The bone removed his hood. Spreading along the left side of his face grew a solid blue crystalline structure. In encompassed his left eye, most of his left forehead and the space in between, touched the left corner of his mouth, and ran down the backside of his neck to his shoulder where it spread like wildfire across the rest of the left side of his upper body. Glaian was very amused. The bone continued to speak.

"He sent me to ensure your safety, and that means from everyone including yourself. You are too arrogant for your own good. It will be your undoing if you do not heed my words."

"I'll take them under advisement. Did you have anything else to say?"

"Yes. I was to show you a gift my master has brought you. The final weapon that shall deliver you victory. It awaits outside." The three of them walked outside. Parked in the street was a giant white mech suit, taller than any other he had seen and teeming with weapons more imposing. "I am to be its pilot. I can assure you that my skills aren't lacking."

"This pleases me." Glaian said as he walked around the circumference of the white metallic giant. "This will serve me well, as will you. Tell me your name."

"As I said, I have no name. But if you must designate me, my master has called me Grimace on several occasions. You may refer to me as such."

"Ah. Grimace. Now I know where I've seen your face before. Ironic, considering. This will serve my plans well. Very well indeed." Glaian looked out into the mountains and laughed. The stars overhead twinkled especially bright. He could almost have said, in his joy, that they existed only for him. He felt invincible. "Come with your forces Phoncible!" He shouted in jubilation at his enemy. "Come to destroy me for your stupendously misguided revenge! Come to alleviate your crushing despair! I will revel in your resistance! I will meet your challenge head on!" He composed himself once again, and turned around to walk back to his war room. "And I will show you the true meaning of the word despair."


	19. Foundations: Part 1

Author's Note: As of June 27th, 2016, the entire fanfic has been rewritten. That means this chapter, all that came before it, and all that follow it now contain different content that they did previously. You are strongly encouraged to go back and reread the entire fanfic from the beginning, as the revised continuity may confuse you if you jump in part of the way through.

* * *

_**The heart of Ivory Crescent Forest, thirty three miles from the Boneville city limit**_

_** October 2498, Twenty-eight years ago**_

The Bone stood on a raised wooden platform at the end of an octagonal courtyard opposing the entrance to a secluded compound. Above him swayed a canvas of fall leaves as the treetops breathed the afternoon winds. Before him stood two dozen other Bones, all much younger than him, wearing the standard blue and gold trimmed uniforms of the Academy. They were standing still and silent as the morning air, awaiting their final instructions on their last day together as classmates.

The Bone was a tall man, comparatively. He was bald, like most other men of his species, and wore a long trench coat that descended to the tops of his ankles. A cigarette lay idly burning in his mouth as he prepared to deliver the student's their final missive. His name was Kelkaid Nagratek, and he was very eager to witness the fruits of over a decade and a half of careful training and selection begun by his father, Gaimus. He was eager to witness what tools this institution had sharpened for him this year. He cleared his throat and began to speak.

"Brothers and sisters, you have endured much. Since before you were old enough to wield a weapon, you have all been trained in the arts of assassination. Together within these walls and corridors you have spent your youths learning and preparing to combat the new threats the Order will face in the coming years. And now, after sixteen years, you are almost ready to shoulder the responsibility of protecting the divine plan bestowed upon us by our Lord. After today, six of you will be admitted into the Vanguard that will protect the Order from those that wish it harm. But you have one last challenge to face before you do."

"You have all trained together, learned together, and grown together for your entire lives. The twenty-four of you share the strongest bonds of any Bone on this planet. But your devotion to our Lord must be stronger. And there may come a time where your loyalties will be tested, where you will be forced to choose what is most important. In those times, we must be assured that your emotions will not cloud your mission. That you are capable of making the right choice." An uneasy look crept into the faces of some of the students. Already Kelkaid knew what the outcome of this test would be. "If you are not capable of taking the life of someone you love for the greater good of the Order and of our Lord, then you have no place among the truly devoted. Your last test will measure that resolve, that loyalty. Only six slots are open for admission into the Vanguard. Only six of you will leave here alive. You must decide amongst yourselves who those six will be. The test begins now."

The uneasy students began to look around horrified at the thought of taking the life of someone they knew so intimately. However, not everyone was so soft. The first to break rank was a larger bone named Selthash. Without warning, he drew a small blade from his sleeve and planted it in the side of the neck of the man standing next to him. This act opened the floodgates, and the killing began. The uneasy ones made easy prey for the more hardened students. The courtyard became a bloodbath. A woman stabbed a man through the chest as two more traded dagger blows next to her. On the other side, another student garroted the Bone to his left. Kelkaid, however, kept his eye on a pair of twins standing back to back, each engaged in hand to hand combat with an armed opponent. Their skill and technique was flawless, and they each disarmed and executed their quarry in mere moments before they began to look for other targets.

In less than a minute the winners were decided, and one of Kelkaid's assistant's blew an air horn to signify the end of the test. Eighteen bodies lay broken on the ground, and six killers stood victorious above them. Selthash Haenkos was from a military family whom the Order utilized from time to time. Then there were the twin daughters of Tagyr Trenya, Kelkaid's second in command. Next to them stood a woman named Jeleset, the oldest student at the academy with no birth record. She was raised by Kelkaid's father and admitted into the academy late to complete her training as per the old man's will. The remaining two were a highborn member of the Lazbethed clan named Izagail, and an orphan called Viprus whom the Order's recruiters found in the wreckage of a fire when he was a baby. He had burn marks all over his body that gave his skin the texture of scales.

"I would like to personally congratulate you six for graduating from the Ivory Crest Academy." Kelkaid said, stepping down from his platform. He motioned to helpers standing underneath the colonnade to begin cleaning up the dead bodies as he approached his new weapons. "That is no easy feat. Only six every class are granted the privilege to serve the Order to the degree which you soon shall. Upon the edges of your blades balances the future of our organization. I pray that they will remain steadfast in the face of all that is to come."

"Yes, your honor." All six repeated in perfect synchronization. Kelkaid smiled to himself. He looked around to make sure all of the bodies and blood were cleaned up. He only had so much time before younger students came wandering into the courtyard, so he had to wrap things up quickly.

"Now that you are members of the Vanguard, I should remind you that secrets pertaining to the final test cannot and will not be leaked to the younger students." They all nodded in consent. "Good. With that out of the way, there is a vehicle waiting for you outside the gate. It will take you to our headquarters in the city. From there you will all be given your first assignments as members of the Vanguard."

"Yes, your honor." They all repeated. The six of them turned and left the compound they had spent the majority of their lives training at and walked to the helicopter that would take them beyond the threshold of the forest.

"When he said vehicle, I pictured something more… terrestrial. Like a car." Izagail commented as the six of them took their seats and strapped their belts for the coming ride.

"There are no paths to the Academy from the city. We have to go by air if we want to get anywhere." Jeleset replied. "Sometimes I forget that I'm the only one here who's been outside the Academy more than a handful of times."

"And you just love throwing that one in everyone's face every time the subject arises, don't you? You think that makes you special or something?" Selthash interjected.

"She also scored highest on all of the tests out of the six of us. She was the best at the academy, so yes, she is very special." Viprus noted.

"Yeah, thanks to the previous High Awakened Justicar's preferential treatment. But now that Kelkaid's in charge, outcasts like you two will be phased out of the Vanguard eventually."

"Selthash, that's hardly called for. They may not have been born into the Order like us, but that doesn't mean that they have any less place among our ranks. They trained with us for over a decade. They've more than earned the right to their spot in the Vanguard." Izagail admonished.

"Kelkaid's family brought our people to ruin. Without his cursed lineage, we wouldn't be hiding in the shadows like pests waiting to be exterminated. If the Nagrateks hadn't led the kingdoms to unite, I'm willing to bet that we'd be living like royalty, with people bowing to us in the streets. Except for you." Selthash nodded at Viprus. "You'd be nothing but a common street urchin who can barely pronounce his own name. And Jeleset would be working the street corners as a common whore."

"If you're trying to get a response from me, Selthash, you've succeeded." Jeleset unclipped herself from the seat and walked across the helicopter to where Selthash was sitting. He smirked up at her enflamed face. "Now I'm going to make you regret it. Stand up."

"With pleasure." Selthash responded, confident in his ability to go toe-to-toe with Jeleset. He unclipped himself, but before he could finish standing up, she ripped him out of his seat and threw him on the ground. Winded, he couldn't do anything to prevent her from dragging him to the edge of the craft and dangling him out of the side.

"Insult me or Viprus in any way again, and I drop you out of this helicopter." She threatened, rage burning brightly behind her eyes.

"You know that treat only works as long as we're inside the helicopter, right? What'll you do after we land?"

"If you do anything I don't like after we land, I'll make you wish I'd thrown you out of this helicopter. Do you understand me?" Selthash gulped, realizing that he was outclassed.

"Yeah, I understand. Now can you let me get up? This floor's kind of cold." Selthash asked. Jeleset let him up, and he limped sheepishly back to his seat. Behind him, Nibet chuckled.

"Oh, so you can still speak?" Izagail remarked at Nibet as Selthash sat back down and re-clipped his seat. He didn't get a response. "What's with you two, you've been silent since we finished the test. Usually you don't shut up. What's occupying your minds?" Again no response. He was about to ask again when X'lish spoke.

"Don't mind us. We just never thought we'd make it this far. The last time our father visited the academy, he wasn't exactly pleased with our progress. He said if we didn't pass, he'd never talk to us again. Nibet was pretty broken up about the whole thing. But now we know that he wasn't being some ridiculously overbearing father, he was trying to keep us alive. So that's been a thing. Plus we haven't seen him in three years, so we're not exactly sure what to expect."

"Your father's the Chief Advisor of the Vanguard, right? Sheesh that must've been a difficult childhood." Izagail responded, trying to keep the conversation going.

"Childhood isn't the word I'd use to describe it. We were raised in the academy since we could pronounce our own names, like most of the rest of our class. Father wasn't around much. Nothing really bad happened, he just wasn't there most of the time. The rest of the story should tell itself."

"Has anyone ever told you that you aren't good at telling stories?"

"Not that I can recall, no."

"Well, you're not. Hey look, we're here." Izagail exclaimed. X'lish hadn't noticed, but the scenery below had changed from woodlands to urban sprawl, and their helicopter was about to touch down on a helipad at the top of a very tall skyscraper that overlooked the entire city.

"About damn time." Selthash muttered to himself as he shuffled, still slightly winded, out of the helicopter. Nibet chuckled again. He ignored her. Everyone else followed after him, but X'lish held Izagail back.

"What do you want? If you want me to apologize for the comment about-"

"That isn't it." She said. "I know you've had a thing for my sister for several years now."

"I… don't know what you're talking about." Izagail averted his gaze.

"Of course you don't. I just hope you know what you're getting yourself into. Selthash isn't exactly the easiest person to out-compete, unless you're Jeleset." X'lish began walking after the others toward the person awaiting them on the other side of the roof.

"Selthash? Are you serious? Him? You're pulling my leg, aren't you?" He ran to catch up with her.

"I'd answer you, but apparently I'm not that great at storytelling, so I won't bother."

"Ok, now you're just being rude."

"Remind me, who was being rude exactly when you told me that I wasn't great at storytelling?" X'lish said with a smirk.

"Ok me. But you said it didn't bother you, so why bring it up?"

"Because now it bothers you. And watching you freak out over my sister is my second favorite pastime." They caught up with the group and reached the opposing end of the roof. The bone standing there was a woman, dressed similar to a secretary.

"Hello." She greeted the group. "I'm the Chief Advisor of the Vanguard's personal secretary. I'm here to escort you around the building. If you will follow me now, I'll take you on the grand tour." She motioned at the door leading to the lower floors, and began walking toward it.

"Excuse me, miss secretary?" Nibet asked inquisitively and slightly bereft, "Where is the Central Advisor at the moment?"

"I'm sorry, Nibet, but your father is away dealing with a constituency problem in Argus City. He regrets that he couldn't be here to welcome you himself. Now if you will proceed down the staircase, we can begin."

"That's just like him, taking off and leaving his secretary behind to explain things." Nibet said to X'lish.

"I'm sure he had a good reason." Her sister replied. "He better have one anyway." She muttered to herself. The seven of them descended the staircase and entered the building. The secretary lead them through corridor after corridor and room after room detailing to them the necessary information, until eventually they ended up in a large chamber that made up almost three whole floors. It was a command and control center, with monitors and displays littered everywhere and bones crossing back and forth issuing messages or sitting at desks speaking with people across a massive communications network.

"This is the highlight of the tour. The command center of the Successor's Vanguard. This is where you will receive your assignments and where you will report to after they are completed. From here, the entire communications network of the Order of the Hallow Soul works tirelessly to keep everyone up to date on threat assessment and the operational status of assets like field agents and isolated cells."

"Cool." Viprus whispered to himself.

"It's going to be fun working here as a field agent instead of an assistant." Jeleset proclaimed.

"So this is operational command, huh? I thought it would be underground. But I guess this'll have to do." Izagail mused.

"Finally, I can show my stuff. When's our first assignment?" Selthash asked.

"Oh you won't be receiving assignments until tomorrow. First we need to get you situated and used to the rest of the building. But when you do receive assignments, they'll come through one of the monitors over there." She pointed to the large system of screens mounted on the far wall that took up the most space out of anything in the room. "Data comes in from the field through those, and that data is processed by the people sitting at the desks below us." She motioned to the people on the ground floor below the balcony they rested on. "They take the data and decide on an appropriate response, which gets approved by one of the higher ups in the offices around us before being assigned to a field unit. You all will function as individual or group units, depending on the task at hand." One of the monitors lit up red, and a voice crackled over the speaker system. "Here's something now. We can observe the process in real time before we have to move on, so soak up every detail."

The voice on the speakers was frantic. "This is Graham Wilkens Bone, the head of operations in New Taebid! My operational command is under attack from an unknown enemy! We can't hold out much longer! We're requesting reinforcements!"

"Roger that Graham. We'll reroute the nearest available law enforcement to your location and clear out the attackers. Sit tight and everything will be okay." One of the various desk-workers said into his headset. He typed a few things into the computer in front of him, waited a few seconds, and then typed some more before sitting back and taking a sip of his coffee.

"Well that was much less impressive than you made it out to be." Viprus commented. The secretary ignored him,

"I didn't know we recruited members of the House of Bone into the Order." Selthash said, sounding slightly shocked. "Isn't that against the policy of clan supremacy?"

"Only the lower level operational members are members of that cursed House. As it turns out, they make great cannon fodder. None of them know any amount of information on the Order itself." She answered. "Now if, you'd all follow me, we'll continue the tour." The seven of them began to leave the room. X'lish stared back at that monitor where the distress signal came in, and felt a strange sense of anticipation.

"Come on X'lish, hurry up!" Nibet shouted back at her.

"Coming!" X'lish replied. She turned and walked out the door with the rest of the group. Together they walked into the future.

* * *

_**The third floor of Apartment 1004, 5**__**th**__** street, New Taebid City.**_

_**October 2498, Twenty-eight years ago**_

"This is the New Taebid Police! Hands in the air!" Detective Thompson shouted as he burst through the door to the room. He and his partner rushed into the room guns drawn, but were taken aback by the large number of bodies littering the floor. In the corner by some computers stood a solitary Bone, waiting for them.

"About damn time." He said as they entered the room. Detective Thompson aimed his gun at the man's head.

"That's a nice ring you're wearing." Thompson said nodding at the ring the Bone wore on his finger. "Mind telling me where you got it?" Thompson's partner looked confused.

"Oh, this old thing?" The man said as he pulled the ring off of his finger and showed it to the detective. It was gold, and in it was mounted a small asymmetrical blue crystal. "My boss gave it to me, as a token of his appreciation." Thompson lowered his gun and holstered it. His partner didn't.

"Graham Wilkes Bone, I presume?" Thompson asked as he stretched out his hand to the strange Bone.

"You presume correct, Detective Thompson." The Bone returned Thompson's gesture and shook his hand. "Nice to finally talk to you in the flesh, instead of through couriers."

"Likewise. So, what's the situation here? HQ called us over, but it seems we were too late." Thompson's partner still hadn't put down his gun.

"I'll tell you, Detective, as soon as you let your partner know what's going on." The other Bone pointed at Thompson's partner. "I don't like the way he's pointing a gun at me, and I'm not sure we can trust him."

"Oh shit, I forgot to fill him in. Give me a second, Graham." Thompson walked back over to his partner.

"Thompson, what's going on here?" His partner asked as he continued to aim his gun at the suspect.

"Put your gun down, Faldr, this guy isn't a suspect. He's a beneficiary. It seems he and his boys were attacked, and we've been sent here to help sort things out."

"What do you mean, beneficiary?" Faldr asked as he lowered his guard in confusion. "Don't tell me this guy's been paying you off?"

"Oh don't talk like that, Faldr. I still do my job, I still catch criminals. I just also help these guys out a little too, give them an edge up and some protection if things go south, like today. Harmless stuff, really?"

"Really?" Faldr turned away from Graham and pointed his gun at Thompson's head. "Because it sound to me like you're a dirty cop whoring himself out to some local criminals for petty cash. I'm calling you both in."

"It won't do you much good, Faldr. You're new, so let me spell it out for you. You either get on Graham's payroll, or you get found dead in a ditch three provinces over by more cops on someone else's payroll." Faldr gritted his teeth, and Thompson backed up slowly next to Graham, placed his hand on his gun, and unclipped the strap. "But if you do decide to join up, you'll make a killing in benefits. I can fill you in on all of the necessary details later."

"Or you can fill us both in right now. On every detail." Graham said as he pulled out a semi-automatic and placed it against Thompson's temple.

"Graham, what's going on?" Thompson asked as he pulled the hammer back on the pistol on his belt.

"What's going on is I am a member of the Federal Intelligence Commission, and you are under arrest for a staggering amount of charges, Detective Thompson." Graham pulled out a badge from his pocket. "Now sit in the chair in the corner, and tell me everything you know." He motioned with his gun at a chair by some computers in the corner. Thompson took advantage of this brief moment to draw his gun. Graham knocked it from his hand before he could level it and shot Thompson through the kneecap several times.

"Did I make myself clear, Detective?" Graham asked as Thompson howled in pain. Graham threw him into the corner and he limped into the chair as indicated. Faldr aimed his gun at Graham's head.

"Now I'm really confused." The young detective said as Graham approached him. Graham stretched out his hand and offered Faldr his semi-automatic.

"Use this to keep an eye on your partner while I talk to him, Detective Milzaek. If he moves any way you don't like, shoot him."

"What's to stop me from shooting you?" Faldr asked in response. "And how do you know my name?"

"The answer to both of your questions is that I'm an FIC agent, and both I outrank you and know everything about you. I'm officially taking command of this investigation, and I say that we interrogate the suspect on scene."

"You still haven't told he what's going on."

"Ok, fine. Do you want to know what's going on? I'll tell you. Your partner and over half of the cops in this country are on the payroll of a very large, very powerful criminal organization called the Order of the Hallow Soul. They use religious pretext to smuggle and sell drugs, arms, people, government secrets, and a whole lot more, and the FIC has spent the last two years building a case against them. And to do that, I need the names of everyone your partner knows is a member of the Order. So help me get those names and we can take down the biggest criminal organization in history."

"How do I know you're telling the truth?" Faldr asked as he put down his gun.

"This badge is real." Graham said as he showed Faldr the badge he held in his left hand. "And you heard your partner's big spiel. What more proof do you need?"

"I'll trust you, for now I guess." Faldr said as he took the gun from Graham's hand and the two of them walked over to Thompson as he winced, trying to hold back the pain. Faldr pointed the gun at Thompson's shoulder while Graham stood directly above him to interrogate him.

"I know how this works. Aren't you going to read me my rights? You can't arrest me or use anything I say as evidence unless you do." Thompson asked.

"Not this time, Detective. No one knows you're here because you were ordered here by the Order, not a police dispatch. And the bugs you've got in the precinct computers will make it look like you never deviated from you patrol. Right now, I could make you disappear into thin air. We'll say you ran off after a suspect or something. Faldr will corroborate the story, as will whoever I get to play the part of this "criminal" you went looking for. You'll be found dead in an alley, with all the evidence pointing to whomever you were chasing. He'll be charged, convicted, and get spirited away in a puff of bureaucratic smoke once he hits the prison system. No one will miss you, and you will have protected no one, because my list of known dirty cops in this city doesn't end with you. I just want you to help me fill in the gaps in your unit. Give me the names of everyone you know is on the Order's payroll, and I'll let you live to see the light of day again."

"Like I can tell you anything you don't already know. You hired all of us, remember?"

"Okay, I lied about being Graham Wilkes Bone. He's actually lying dead in the pile of bodies on the ground because he refused to give up information. And he managed to wipe the computers of data before I broke in here, so the only option I have left for the moment is you. If you don't give me what I want, this will all have been a gigantic waste of time. And I'll be very stressed. And I like to relieve stress by slowly carving people's extremities off with a knife." The FIC agent pulled out a knife from his back pocket and stabbed it into Thompson's hand. Thompson screamed again, and the agent waited for him to calm down before continuing. "Now tell me the names, and I won't have to hurt you anymore. And you can go free. Just like that." Thompson weighed his options.

"Fine, I'll tell you. I'll give you the names I know. Are you ready?" the agent pulled out his phone and nodded. "Frank, Harold, Connor, Justin, Richard, Blake, and Walter." the agent typed them all into his phone.

"And what are their ranks?" He asked.

"I think you probably already know the answer to that question." Without blinking the agent pulled the knife from Thompson's hand and stabbed it in his shoulder.

"Fuck!" Thomson shouted.

"You were right that I knew the ranks, Detective, but the next time you take that tone with me I'll put this knife in more private places, do you understand?" Thompson whimpered and nodded. "Good!" The agent shouted as he stood up. "Someone will be by to collect you shortly. I recommend you stay in the chair until they arrive. Faldr, we're leaving." The agent began leaving.

"Y-yes sir…" Faldr said, mildly disturbed as he and the agent made their way out of the room. "If I may say, that was rather brutal." The agent stopped and turned to face Faldr.

"Detective Milzaek, I've watched poverty and crime consume this city for years. And this man and his friends were party to that consumption. Every drug addict and gang member and prostitute on the streets of this city owe their unfortunate circumstances to that man's corrupt idle behavior. So I feel no remorse in relaying to him some small measure of the pain that he has put the people of this city through due to his selfishness. And you shouldn't feel any either."

"But that didn't seem right. If we resort to tactics like that to combat crime, are we any better than criminals?"

"Yes, we are. For one thing, we aren't being payed by drug rings and gang lords to do their dirty work. We don't hurt the innocent. Only those who deserve it."

"At least tell me these cops will get a fair trial."

"That all depends on how they play their cards. If Thompson agrees to keep quiet about the torture, and the others cooperate, they'll get their day in court."

"And if not?"

"For this many cops, probably a terrorist attack. That should cover it up well enough, don't you think?"

"This is insane!" Faldr shouted. "I can't believe what I'm hearing!"

"This is war, Detective! Whether you believe it or not, we are at war! And your naive ideology has no place on this battlefield!" The agent shouted back. "Now do you want to help rid your country of the scum infesting it? Is that not why you joined the police in the first place?"

"It is. I do want to help my country. But through the proper channels."

"The proper channels are run by men like Thompson, who will crush any attempt you make to help people before you can even start. He was prepared to shoot you today. If you were not prepared to do the same, you cannot help your country. Will you assist me?" Faldr was silent for a moment.

"Yes. I'll help you get rid of the corruption in the police. And then we'll see from there. But first I need to know your name."

"Ah, yes my name. As you know, it isn't Graham Wilkes Bone. The one I've been using for the past few years now is Jigafta Utenki."

"It's not your real one?"

"Kid, no one knows my real name, not even the FIC. I'm not sure I even want to remember it anymore. And I'd like to keep it that way. For all intents and purposes, my name is Jigafta Utenki."

"Good enough for now, I guess. What's next, agent Utenki?"

"We interrogate those officers Thompson told us about. But first I need to make a call." Jigafta pulled out his phone again. "Horizon, this is Rising Dawn. I have the list. Sending it over now." He pressed a few buttons on his phone.

"Roger that, Rising Dawn. Sending a response team to your location to clean and collect. In the meantime, head over to the precinct and follow up on the list as best you can. We'll have another team waiting for you." The woman on the other end of the receiver said.

"Copy that Horizon, Rising Dawn is en route to the police station now. Over and out." He hung up his phone. "We're heading to the precinct to interrogate your coworkers. Let's bug out before the cleanup crew arrives." The two of them walked down the stairs and out of the building. "Do you think your partner would mind?" Jigafta asked, motioning to Faldr's patrol car.

"No. I've got the keys anyway." Faldr responded. The two of them got in the car, and Faldr drove them toward the precinct. "So who are the Order of the Hallow Soul anyway, some kind of cult?" Faldr asked as they made their way through the clogged city streets.

"Yes and no. They're a criminal organization, but they use pseuo-religious context to incite a sense of loyalty and elitism in their members, though I'm not sure how many members of the organization actually believe half of the things that come out of their mouths."

"Earlier you implied that they were pretty far reaching. How big of an organization are we talking?"

"We think they have cells in every major city, though we've managed to locate only a few, and everywhere they operate they pay cops to cover their tracks. They've probably got backing from some influential people, and the list of operatives we suspect they have in the field includes: three senators, a couple of military families, several celebrities and athletes, scientists, doctors, the former director of the FIC, and on and on and on."

"Wait… The former director of the FIC? You were spying on your boss?"

"I wasn't always an FIC agent. I'm just working with them to take down the Order now that I've exposed them. I've been hunting these criminals since before the FIC knew they existed, and I helped uncover several corrupt agents in the FIC who were keeping everything under wraps, including the director. After that, the President gave me a blank check and told me to give him a list of the Order's men hiding in the government. So far we haven't met much success."

"Until today, I take it."

"A few days ago, actually. I started this partnership about a year ago, and since then our only lead has been a handful of rings that mark you as a member of the order."

"Like that ring you were wearing earlier?"

"Bingo. We used to just look for who was wearing them and mark our targets accordingly. Unfortunately jewelry doesn't hold up as evidence in court, so we were mainly just observing potential suspects hoping a new lead would pop up. But one day one of my men got cocky and screwed up a tail. The target got spooked, and ever since they've stopped using the rings in public, and set up a secondary system of passphrases they change regularly. So we were at an impasse. Until I was monitoring drug rings here in New Taebid a few days ago, and spotted Graham take out one of the rings and show it to one of his men. That's when I got the bright idea to raid their compound, and voila. A new lead."

"And now you're interrogating cops in the city trying to get access to some concrete information linking the rings to the Order?"

"Actually, when we raided the Graham's base of operations he pressed a button that both sent out a distress signal and scrubbed the computers. But our tech boys taped into the data streams beforehand and managed to snag some bits of data. We were able to narrow down where Graham sent the distress call to within about a province or two, and when the computers scrubbed they sent sensitive data back to a main server. We weren't able to get its location, but odds are one of these cops will know where to start looking. Once we gain access to that main server, we could potentially get our hands on at least a partial list of members, if not a full one, and finally have some concrete evidence."

"I guess that makes sense. You'll need to give me a more in depth debrief later though."

"Undoubtedly. Well, we're almost there. Let's get to work. Oh, and whatever I say inside, just go along with it. But don't talk if at all possible."

"I've got to say working with the FIC wasn't exactly how I pictured it." Faldr commented as their car pulled

"Well you're not technically working with the FIC, you're working with me, who is in turn using the FIC to move about above the law."

"What's the difference?"

"The difference is that I'm more fun." Jigafta said as their car pulled up next to the police station. The two of them got out and made their way inside. Waiting for them in one of the rooms were all of the people on the list Thompson gave up, as well as several FIC agents. "Close the door." Jigafta whispered to one of the agents. Jigafta took a seat in a chair at the front of the room while the agent did as he was told. Faldr stood awkwardly to the side, unnoticed.

"Hello gentlemen, my name is special agent Utenki. I'm in charge of a corruption investigation in your bureau. I'll get right down to it. Thompson spilled the beans." All of the cops in the room shifted uncomfortably. Jigafta continued. "Which means I have enough testimony to put all of you in jail for a very long time. Unless you co-operate. Now I only really want one thing: the names of every Order member you all can come up with. Give us a good enough list, and we can see about reducing your sentences. Refuse to cooperate, and I get to let my associates do some anatomical reorganization. They insisted on that euphemism, by the way."

"I can do better than names." One of the cops stood up. "I can get you access codes."

"To where?" Jigafta inquired. As he was distracted, another cop tried to pull a gun. One of the FIC agents grabbed it from his hand and slammed the side of his face with it. Jigafta looked around the room. "Don't any of you try anything like that again, understand?" They all nodded their heads. "And don't bother contacting the Order either, we killed the cell tower in this area and cut all landlines running in and out of the building. No one is coming to get you out. Now, what were you saying again?" Jigafta turned his attention back to the officer who had stood up previously.

"I used to run jobs for one of the higher ups in the Order. She gave me access codes to a back door and a private elevator. You can have them. You've made it very clear that none of us are getting out of here as free men anyway. And the Order won't do me much good in a prison cell."

"Smart man. If you'll follow one of my colleges, he'll take you into another room and you can give him all of the relevant data pertaining to these access codes. In exchange, we'll make sure to remember what you did for us." The cop followed one of the men out into a separate room. "I advise the rest of you to follow in your college's example." Jigafta remarked. The officers did as they were told, and in total they gave up 374 names of known Order members, 219 of which were inside the New Taebid City Police Department.

"Thank you for your cooperation, gentlemen. Now my associates and will take you all into custody, for your own protection of course, and we'll see about putting together formal testimonies." The officers were all lead out of the room and to the left, while Jigafta and Faldr exited to the right back out to their car. On the way, an agent stopped Jigafta and whispered something into his ear. "Oh, that is interesting." He muttered to himself. As they got back to their car, Faldr started asking questions again.

"So what's so interesting about what that agent told you? Did we get a name attached to those access codes?"

"Yes we did. Get in and I'll explain. Oh and toss me the keys. I'll drive." Faldr did as he was told, and the two of them left back in the direction they came.

"Are we going back to meet up with the cleanup crew?" Faldr asked.

"Nope, we're going to the pay a visit to the Ryonia building in the business district."

"Ryonia? As in Nemyunoi and Wunkanhi Ryonia, the children star gymnasts?"

"Actually, as in their mother, the cutthroat business woman who we suspected of having ties to the Order in the past. Now we think she might have direct access to their main servers in her building. Se we're going to use these new access codes to break in."

"We should probably stake the building out for a few days, get a feel of the schedules of the guards or something."

"Okay if you're going to work with me from now on, my number one rule is that you don't pull all of your ideas from bad cop movies from thirty years ago. They're smarter than that, probably have randomly changing patrol patterns and times. We'll need a day at most." Right as Faldr was about to inquire as to exactly what Jigafta had planned, the building they were driving past exploded. Faldr flipped, but Jigafta continued driving at the same pace.

"What the shit was that?!" Faldr screamed as he checked to make sure all of his body parts were still attached.

"That was the cleanup crew giving Thompson a cover story for his disappearance. And for all of those bodies. Relax, we do stuff like this more often than you'd think."

"What've I gotten myself into?" Faldr slumped back in his chair as the roller coaster of an afternoon caught up with him.

Jigafta laughed. "Don't let this wear you out, kid. We haven't even done anything remotely interesting yet."

* * *

_**The Headquarters of the Order of the Hallow Soul, Downtown Boneville**_

_**October 2498, Twenty-eight Years Ago**_

"A breaking development in the New Taebid City bombings, it appears the man behind the attack and the deaths of Detectives Thompson and Milzaek was a man named Graham Wilkes Bone, a notorious drug dealer who organized the majority of the crime throughout the city. His body has recently been identified in the wreckage alongside the two officers, and the FIC has been called in to investigate exactly how events transpired that lead Graham to blow up himself and the two brave detectives." Kelkaid and some of his subordinates watched the news cast as the events in New Taebid City unfurled.

"It appears Graham was less than pleased with the backup we sent him." One of the men in the room said.

"Or perhaps this Milzaek boy's sense of justice got the better of him, and he blew them up when he found out Thompson was in bed with the Order." Another suggested.

"We still can't discount the possibility of FIC involvement. They've been growing increasingly active since we lost contact with the Director last year." The people gathered before Kelkaid began to bicker and postulate about what could have transpired.

"Enough!" Kelkaid shouted, silencing the whole room. "Right now I don't care what might have happened. I want to know why this happened. Somewhere along the line someone in this building made a mistake, and that mistake blew up our center of ground operations in New Taebid City. I will not have a repeat of the signet ring incident. If we do not find out exactly what happened in that room between those three men, then we cannot contain this situation. Someone is moving against us, and I am ordering a full alert until we find out who. Send as many available vanguards as we can to protect uncompromised assets, and alert Lady Ryonia to the possible dangers of her continued stay in the city. I, meanwhile, have to explain your collective failure to the Grand Lord." Kelkaid walked out of the room as his subordinates fumbled around accomplishing tasks.

"Going to talk with the master again?" Tagyr Trenya stopped Kelkaid in the hallway.

"My dealings with the Grand Lord are none of your concern." Kelkaid responded.

"Oh, I think they are. You need to start trusting me again, and let me in on more of the goings on with your little inner circle. Or you will find yourself with very little support among the Vanguard."

"I'll begin bringing you in on what's going on as soon as the Vanguard needs to be informed. We can discuss this later." Kelkaid left his second in command behind and entered a private elevator that took him several stories below ground level into a secret chamber.

"Master." He said as he walked off of the elevator into the cavern. "It appears the Traitor may have made the first move. He silenced one of our directing operatives in New Taebid, and could have the names of more."

"Do not concern yourself with that old, beaten dog." A low, raspy voice snaked its way out of the dark depths and into Kelkaid's mind. "He abandoned your people long ago when Argus the Betrayer rose to power, and has hidden himself with shame ever since. The Vanguard will be enough to handle him as he is now. You need to focus your efforts on finding the Successor."

"The Boneville Explorers' Society has its people in the desert as we speak. They are confident they will have substantial results on the latest excavations within the year."

"Your pace is crawling. We need to speed up the process if we are to complete the ritual before my brother roots us out."

"I though you said I should not concern myself with him?" Kelkaid knew as soon as he had said those words he would regret them. He felt the air around him begin to burn, and he fell to his knees.

"Do not contradict my orders again, Kelkaid." The voice said, slightly annoyed.

"Of... course not… master." Kelkaid managed to get out with what little air he had left. The voice released its grip on Kelkaid's lungs, and he stood back up.

"Good. My brother will not pose a threat to you if you deal with him now, but if you allow this wound to fester like you have so many others, he will eventually pose a problem. He will undoubtedly sneak into Lady Ryonia's home. Trap him there. End him, and ensure victory for the Crystal."

"Yes, my Lord." Kelkaid swiftly left the cavern in the elevator he had arrived. The voice mused on this latest report.

"So, my brother." The voice whispered to itself. "We begin this game once again. I will not fail so easily this time. This time, I will make you pay more dearly for what you did to our father than you could ever imagine."


	20. Chapter 18: Shadows of Wrath

Author's Note: As of June 27th, 2016, the entire fanfic has been rewritten. That means this chapter, all that came before it, and all that follow it now contain different content that they did previously. You are strongly encouraged to go back and reread the entire fanfic from the beginning, as the revised continuity may confuse you if you jump in part of the way through.

* * *

"I wasn't aware that we had another supply shipment scheduled for today." The quartermaster said to Nibet as she walked off of a supply airship empty save for one large red metal container.

"Glaian requested these items from our supplier personally" Nibet replied. "Because of the recent security leaks, we're flying it in off the books. If you keep quiet about it, and everything goes smoothly, I'll make sure to put in a good word for you with Glaian. Now if you excuse me, I have a ceremony to attend." She walked off in the direction of the Temple.

"What am I supposed to do with it?" The quartermaster asked.

"Glaian will come by at some point to inspect the contents. Until then, just leave it be and make sure no one disturbs it." She continued walking.

"But I don't even know what's in it? How am I supposed to let an unmarked container with unknown contents just sit undisturbed in a loading zone?" Nibet stopped and looked back at the quartermaster with a stare that froze him solid.

"Do you want me to tell Glaian that I was late to the coronation ceremony because you couldn't do your job and take orders like everyone else, or do you want that honor for yourself?"

"No ma'am. Sorry ma'am. I'll let you get back to your work then, ma'am." He said as he scuffled away in fear. Nibet chuckled, and was about to continue on her way when she saw a commotion taking place over by another dropship. She decided to check it out.

"Did you hit your head? Dropship parking is in the vehicle storage, not in the supply storage!" Another one of the quartermasters shouted at the lone Bone standing on the dropship's ramp. "I swear none of you new recruits payed attention during the debriefing."

"Sorry, sir. I'll bring it over right away." The Bone went back into the dropship. It closed up and took off into the sky. Nibet was about to ask the quartermaster what had happened when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She whirled around to strike the person responsible, but Jigafta caught her fist.

"Relax, Nibet. That was Fone. He just dropped me off to do some damage." Jigafta said jubilantly.

"This is the first time we've spoken in over two decades." She said apprehensively.

"Yes. An astute observation. Your point?" Jigafta asked.

"And you don't hate me after everything I did?" Nibet replied, nervously awaiting his answer.

"I used to. But now that we know Faldr's death wasn't your fault, I've kind of forgiven you. I don't think the same can be said about X'lish though. You'll have to work that one out with her yourself."

"That's about what I expected. Where is she, by the way?"

"Awaiting the signal near the eastern gate."

"So Phoncible can plan a battle strategy, huh? Good for him. Well, enough chit chat, we've got things to prepare." Nibet began walking toward the temple again. "Come follow me, and I'll show you."

"Where are we, exactly?" Jigafta asked as they walked through the empty streets.

"Near the Southern gate. Glaian set up a storage and resupply area in the large courtyard. It isn't a major concern since he doesn't stash his plasma weapons here, so Rose Harvester's men should make short work of the guards, with a little assistance of course."

"I'm going to assume these men you speak of are the contents of the mystery container sitting in your supply ship back there, but if you want me to help them with the assault, why lead me in the opposite direction."

"You'll help them. Just after you fire the flare off the roof of the temple." Nibet said as she drew a small flare gun from her belt and handed it to Jigafta.

"I thought you were sending off the signal. What's this about?" Jigafta asked as he took the gun from her hands.

"Slight change of plans. Glaian want's me at his side during the ceremony, so I won't be in a good position to fire off the flare. I'll need you to do it if this is going to work."

"I'm supposed to cause damage inside the wall to draw the perimeter guards' attention. How do you expect me to do both?"

"You'll figure something out. It's what you're good at."

"Okay, assuming I shoot off the flare and start blowing things up, what then?"

"Then I'll need you to free Rose's men in the container. Meanwhile, I'll make a move on Glaian. I probably can't take him in a straight up fight thanks to all of the crazy modifications Archibald made to him, but I can stall him long enough for you to haul your ass back to the temple and help me end him." They stopped near the temple, just out of sight of the guards.

"If that's the plan, then I'm better off firing the flare from the storage area to save time."

"Suit yourself." Nibet shrugged. Jigafta began running in the direction they had come from.

"I'll get to work. Just make sure you don't get yourself killed."

"Sure thing. And good luck."

"Like I've ever needed luck. See you on the other side." dashed into the shadows of the alleyways leading back to the landing zone. Nibet walked casually inside to meet up with Glaian and begin the ceremony. As Jigafta approached the cargo area, he heard two guards conversing as they waked down a nearby alleyway. He ducked behind a small chunk of stone and began to sneak up on them

"Can you believe the amount of cigar butts that new guy keeps leaving around?" One guard said to the other.

"Yeah, it's starting to annoy me. What was his name again, some sort of facial expression?" The second one replied.

"Smile?"

"No, I'm sure it was something more sinister. Oh forget it. The ceremony's about to start anyway, let's just finish our patrol so we can get some good seats." Jigafta positioned himself right behind both of them, and with one slash from his daggers slit both of their throats. With the two of them dispatched, he headed off once again for the loading zone.

"Hey, what are you doing over here? This area's on lockdown, Nibet's orders." The quartermaster shouted as Jigafta ran up to him.

"Quartermaster, there' something important I've got to tell you!" Jigafta shouted. When he reached the quartermaster, he stuck a blade in his neck. "You're a dead man." He whispered into the shocked quartermaster's ear. With him dead, Jigafta ran up the supply ship's ramp and over to the container. It was magnetically sealed with a four digit passcode, which Nibet neglected to give to him.

"I guess now would be the time to splurge a little." Jigafta muttered to himself. He dug into the edge of the container's door with his fingers as far as he could, and used his bare hands to pry it off of and fling it to the side. Inside stood Gran'ma Ben, the Great Red Dragon, and almost forty human guards armed with swords and bows. Several of the guards made an attempt to attack him, but Gran'ma Ben shouted.

"Wait!" They halted, looking back at her confused. "He's a friend." She walked to the front of the container. "Where's Nibet." She asked.

"She's at the ceremony, preparing to kill Glaian" He replied.

"And what's our job?"

"I assumed Nibet would have told you, but our job is to do as much damage as possible where we are do distract the enemy forces."

"What kind of opposition are we looking at?"

"There's only about half a dozen unarmed Bones here right now, but more will show up once we begin."

"Red, I'll leave them to you." Gran'ma said to the Great Red Dragon crouched at the back of the container.

"With pleasure." He bounded over the heads of everyone in the container, jumped out of the supply ship, and tore into the few scattered Bones outside. Screams echoed for several seconds, and then everything fell silent. A moment after that the sound of metal boots on concrete began echoing from one of the alleys in the distance.

"Alright boys, we just woke the hornet's nest." Gran'ma Ben addressed her men. "They're about to hit us with everything they've got, so we're going to hit back twice as hard. Archers, get up into the buildings and cover us from the windows. The rest of you hide in preparation for some ambushes." She turned to Jigafta as her men ran out of the container to set up. "And you..."

"Don't worry about me. I can handle myself in a fight. Just get your men out of sight, especially that Dragon. He'll draw attention."

"What are you planning, exactly?"

"It's a surprise. Just do as I say." Before she could protest, Jigafta ran out of the supply ship and around the corner. She shrugged and ran off to make sure her men were out of sight. Jigafta rounded the corner of the ship and found a fuel line to one of the engines. He pulled out a small amount of plastic explosive from his pocket and attached it to the fuel line. Then he ran back around to the ramp of the supply ship and waited for approaching loud metal boots to arrive. He didn't wait long. From the alley in front of him came six heavily armed and armored bone soldiers.

"Hello there." Jigafta waved them down. They ran over to him, and one of them, presumably their squad leader, approached him.

"We heard some screaming coming form over here just a moment ago. Is everything alright?" He asked. Then the squad leader noticed the seven charred and eviscerated bodies on the ground.

"No, not really." Jigafta replied. "We had a live dragon captive this container, but as we were moving it the magnetic lock failed and the dragon broke out. It killed everyone but me. I managed to wound its snout and it fled back into the container. Could you six do me a huge favor and kill it? That'd be great." The six of them started at him stunned for a moment.

"We'll kill it for you." The squad leader said, blankly staring at the bodies around them. "But when this is over I'm dragging you in front of Glaian to make you explain yourself."

"Fine by me, just get in and kill it already." The six of them filed into the container as Jigafta drew the detonator for the explosives out of his pocket.

"There's nothing in here!" One of the men shouted. "This isn't a dragon cage!"

"No, it isn't." Jigafta said, smirking as he turned to face the men in the container. He backed of several steps. "It's your grave." He flicked the switch on the small device in his hands, and the explosives on the fuel line detonated. The craft tore in two as the pressure wave from the blast sent fire and shards of metal flying in every direction. Shouting erupted across the base, and Jigafta could see the faint shapes of snipers moving across the wall abandoning their posts in response. Smirking, he raised the flare gun above his head and fired the shot.

"… and as a celebration of our continued victory over the wretched humans, I will once again use my position as the heir to the throne of Nagratek to bring more promising individuals into my fold. Izaroth, Nemyunoi, and Wunkhani have all proven themselves more than worthy of my House. So it is with great pleasure that I consecrate these three bright individuals as new members of the ever growing Clan Nagratek." Glaian delivered his speech to a cheering crowd of soldiers in the temple. His three prospects knelt before him in robes, and Nibet stood at his side, waiting to make her move. Grimace was nowhere to be seen. As Nibet looked out at the crowd waiting for the explosion to hit, she thought she saw herself standing in the mass of people, smirking at her. She looked again, and she was gone.

"You're just tense. Relax" She whispered to herself. She eventually calmed down. Her calmness was short lived.

Nibet heard the explosion right as Glaian placed his hands on Izaroth's shoulders. Everyone in the room panicked for a moment, and in the confusion no one except Nibet noticed the red cloud of the flare plough into the sky through the small hole in the window. Nibet prayed that the others got their jobs done before Glaian's army got a change to regroup.

While the mass was still scrambling to understand what they just felt, she took the opportunity to silence Glaian once and for all. She drew a knife from her belt and approached him as he yelled at one of his attendants. She pulled back her arm to make a killing blow, but a hand caught her wrist. She was getting tired of that.

"I can't have you doing that, now can I? Not before I get my reward for killing you, that is." A voice behind her and to her right said, with more than a hint of satisfaction. She whirled around and wrenched her hand free. Staring her in the face was a ghost. Selthash Haenkos, her former partner before she met Jigafta and Milzaek. The whole left side of his body was covered in burns.

"I didn't realize you were still alive." She said coldly, and she looked around to assess how much time she still had left.

"And I didn't realize that you'd be working with Kelkaid's son as a common thug. Life's full of surprises." He replied as he unsheathed his sword and took a fighting stance.

"You aren't still mad about what I did at the Academy, are you?"

"Words cannot describe the intense, burning anger I have held for you these past twenty-five years. So I'll not attempt to use words. I'll let every cut I make in your skin, every limb I hack off of your miserable corpse speak for me." Selthash lunged at her. She prepared to defend herself, but before he reached her, Glaian stepped in between them and caught the oncoming blade with two fingers. Nibet ran at Glaian to try to silence him, but he caught her knife too.

"Now what do we have here?" He asked the two of them. "I can't have two of my best fighters at each other's throats in such a time of crisis. You two should really learn to get along better."

"Glaian, sir, you should have told me you recruited this psychopath as a member of your personal guard. He's unstable. He just tried to kill me!" Nibet tried to convince Glaian that she was still on his side.

"I recruited him, my dear, because I suspected that you might have wormed your way out of my grasp. And, judging by how you just tried to plunge a dagger in my throat, I'd say the sentiment wasn't far off the mark. Fortunately, I didn't go to such lengths to control you to let you slip away so easily. I do have one failsafe in place before I have to resort to killing you. Crystal dominion."

Those words triggered convulsions in Nibet's body. She dropped her knife and fell to her knees. Out of the crowd came her other self. The second Nibet plunged her hands straight into the first's brain. She screamed and went limp. Glaian turned to address his prospects.

"I apologize for how the ceremony turned out, but I'm concerned Satranik might make a move while we are distracted, so I would like the three of you to board a transport and take command of our troops back home posthaste." Izaroth, Nemyunoi and Wunkhani complied without a word, and a contingent of soldiers began to escort them out of the building. Glaian turned his attention back to Nibet, who began to rise from the ground.

"Are you ready to return to your post, Nibet Trenya?" Glaian asked her.

"Yes, your majesty." She replied, unaware that two minutes ago she wanted him dead.

"Do you know where Phoncible's resistance will be attacking from?" He asked her.

"My sister's target is the eastern gate's vehicle storage area."

"Head there immediately. Kill her without remorse."

"As you command, my Lord." Nibet ran out of the building to confront her sister. Glaian had one more order to issue.

"Selthash." He addressed the mercenary. "I know you agreed to join my crusade solely so you could get your revenge."

"And you just snatched it from me." Selthash replied angrily.

"Not entirely. Since her conditioning took place under the effects of a Nightmare Egg, now that it is gone her programming may be lessened as a result. In other words, there is a strong possibility that she may break free. Follow her, and if she regains control, I want you to kill her."

"I didn't understand half of what you just said, but if it means I get to kill her, then I'll comply with pleasure." Selthash smirked as he followed her out of the temple.

* * *

"If you need backup, just call and the team will be minutes away." The dropship pilot said to X'lish as she and Bartleby began walking off of the ramp and into the mountains.

"I appreciate the gesture, but I won't need backup." X'lish replied. She and Bartleby left the dropship as it went into stealth mode. In the distance the sun was just beginning to set. Ahead of them lay the imposing peaks of the mountain fortress home of the rat creatures. Half a dozen obsidian spires rising into the sky sitting atop a vast wall of rock stretching between two mountains formed the border between the land of the valley people and the domain of King Agak. The middle seventh of the over two hundred meter long wall was split down the middle, forming two doors covered with intricate carvings that served both as the entrance to this forbidden lair and as a testimony to the once great engineering might of the ancient rat kingdom.

"I haven't seen these doors in over seven years." Bartleby remarked as they approached the colossal threshold. "We're all born behind those doors, and let out into the Valley after we have our tails cut and our ears cropped up. I snuck out with a small raiding party before they got my ears, but not before they got my tail. But at least now the Jekk can't get me in my sleep. If it even exists."

"Every culture has their superstitions." X'lish replied. "Most Bones who still cling to the old clan system also subscribe to one of a handful of old clan religions. The cult I used to be a part of tried to unite the clans in secret by claiming all faiths were permutations of a single being, who represented truth itself. We systematically dismantled that cult and burned it to the ground decades ago. And from what I've heard, Jigafta personally tore their "Grand Lord's" face in half."

"That's… nice. But I don't think standing here swapping stories is going to open this door for us."

"You don't know the way back in?"

"I left when I was one, and before I could return the war hit. I'm just as clueless as you are."

"Shouldn't there be guards on watch or something? You'd think someone would have noticed us by now."

"There should be. Maybe they're on break?" He suggested. X'lish gave him a disapproving look.

"Or they could be hiding from Glaian's watchful eye."

"That is also a possibility. Want to try shouting up there, see if anyone's home?"

"It's not like there's much else we can do." X'lish took a step back and looked up at the top of the wall looming over them. She cupper her hands around her moth and shouted. "Hello? Is anybody home up there? We need to speak with the King. It's urgent." For a minute there was no reply. Then the head of a rat creature poked over the side and stared down at them. Then it scurried back. Another minute later, the door opened slightly, and the two of them were greeted by pair of rat creatures, one blueish purple and the other one brown. As soon as they saw Bartleby, they hissed.

"Look, the traitor has come crawling back home." The blue-purple one said. "What, did those repugnant small mammals finally forsake you?"

"Look, comrade." Said the brown one. "Standing with him is a new small mammal. This one looks even more succulent than the others. Shall we bake it into a quiche?"

"I told you we don't eat quiche anymore! The King forbade it!" The blue-purple one snapped back.

"But we haven't had quiche since the first small mammals left. And that was years ago. Can we please? Just this once?"

"Are they for real?" X'lish asked Bartleby, who was trying desperately to hold back laughter.

"They've been dimwits as long as I've know them." He replied. He cleared his throat to get their attention.

"What? Oh, you're still here." The Brown one remarked. "What is it you want?"

"We seek audience with King Agak. We have urgent business that we must discuss with him straight away." X'lish announced.

"And why should we let you in here? You'll probably tear this place apart like what you did to Atheia." The blue-purple one retorted.

"Though we both thoroughly enjoyed watching the sight." The brown one commented.

"Will you be quiet? I'm trying to have a conversation here." The blue-purple one rebuked his comrade. He was about to launch another tirade when X'lish grabbed him by the fur. She pulled him through the gate, pulled out a knife, and held it to his throat.

"You're going to let me though because I am more than capable of killing both of you right here and now, striding into your little compound, and forcing your King to hear what I have to say. But that would put a dampener on negotiations. So instead, you're going to let me in to see him and make sure no one gets in our way. If you do that, you can keep your throat intact."

"You make a convincing argument." The blue-purple one gasped out frantically. X'lish released him. "We'll take you to see the king at once."

"But-" His comrade began to argue. X'lish shot him a death stare, and his objection melted before it cleared his tongue.

"Take us to the King." Bartleby ordered. Both of them gave him their best menacing glares, but complied as X'lish idly examined the blade of her knife in their general direction. The four of them walked through the doors. Once inside, they walked the length of the gap between the two peaks, and on either side of them many caves and burrows lit with barely flickering torches were cut into the mountainsides, forming the entrances to over a mile of intricate network of tunnels that ran inside, underneath, and between the two mountains. At the end of the long trough they journeyed through, where the bases of the two mountains merged to form one solid structure of stone, was the largest of these entrances. This was the entrance to the palace of the Rat King, and it was to this entrance that the group of four walked this barren stretch of land.

"So, what are your names, if you don't mind my asking?" X'lish asked the two rat creatures. "Mine is X'lish Trenya, and I believe you already know Bartleby."

"I can't tell if she wants to kill us or be our best friend forever." The brown one said to the blue-purple one.

"Nor can I. Maybe a bit of both." The blue-purple one whispered back to his friend. He turned to X'lish to answer her question. "My name is Zel Kytusdal Fwacviralt Hexabqed. My comrade is called Yir Shadwin Ligoloth Calingorfor. But you can call us Zel and Yir." X'lish gave Bartleby a look of disbelief.

"They have comparatively short names." Bartleby replied. "Rat creatures are born with one name, and are granted more based on their accomplishments, positions, and a long list of other things in the form of the Nessen words for said accomplishments, positions, and so forth. It is actually quite rare for an individual's name to be only four units long after as long as these two have been around."

"Wait… If everyone has such long names, how long is the King's full name?" X'lish asked.

"Though we may colloquially refer to each other by only our birth names, the ruler of our people, like Agak or Kingdok, is actually the only living adult rat at any given time to possess only one name. Upon coronation, they forsake their past accomplishments and positions and take on a royal name, as a symbol of their new power."

"You are just a walking encyclopedia of facts about your people." X'lish replied.

"Not really. We are well educated about our people during infancy. Only a select few lack the capacity to retain such knowledge. We have the extreme displeasure of knowing two of them." Bartleby glared at Zel and Yir.

"I'll keep that in mind, I guess." The four of them walked in silence once again.

"Where is everyone?" X'lish asked, looking around at the empty landscape around them. "I know this is a secluded mountain fortress, but even so there's no one around."

"They're all inside." Zel replied. "Hiding from the invisible sky things or plotting new ways to hunt without attracting the metal cowless carts."

"Or baking delicious quiches? Please?" Yir interjected.

"I told you, we aren't allowed to have quiche anymore! Now stop it with the quiche!"

"Oh look, we're here." X'lish interrupted their argument as she walked into the large tunnel. "Now shut the hell up." They quieted down instantly, and the four of them walked into the dimly lit passageway. As the fading orange light of the setting sun blinked out of view behind them, the tunnel opened up into a large cavern. Inside were several dozen very large rat creatures who had all positioned themselves between the entrance and the center of the room. In the center was a large stone pyramid that plateaued at the top to form King Agak's throne.

King Agak, a gargantuan, Kingdok-esque rat lay upon this throne. His large, cold eyes watched the visitors as they entered his cavern. The small white one began to approach him, but his soldiers hissed at it, and it moved back. He noticed the anomaly and the two bumbling idiots were accompanying it. This angered him, and he rose from his throne and spoke.

"You would dare dishonor my inner chambers with your small existence, white creature? You and your meek companions have no right to bask in my grace. Leave at once, and I shall spare you from an agonizing death at the hands of my personal guard." King Agak bellowed. X'lish smirked. She drew her two foot long sword from the scabbard resting on her back and took a step forward, pointing the blade directly at King Agak.

"We're not going anywhere. I could kill every single one of your personal guard with only this sword in under five minutes. I could kill you in less." She lowered her blade. "But I'm not here to kill anyone. I'm here to make sure you listen to what my friend has to say." Bartleby strode forth.

"Great King." Bartleby spoke. The anomaly's words were a direct insult to Agak's existence, but he was morbidly intrigued by the small white thing, so he heard them all the same. "My companion and I have traveled here to seek your help. As we speak, my allies are preparing to mount an assault on the city of Atheia to free it from the control of a Bone named Glaian Nagratek, who has brought an army to this valley to hunt down and slay every inhabitant in a ritualistic fashion. My allies intend to prevent that, but they require the aid of our people if their plan is to succeed."

"Your people?" Agak stepped forward, beginning to descend from his throne. "You cannot call yourself one of us, whelp. You did not have the courage to undergo the ritual of the ear, and you have cowered behind the protection of humans and small creatures for longer than I have been in power. You understand nothing of our ways. Your allies will receive no help from us. If and when this so called Glaian comes for me I will turn back his armies with the full might of my own."

"I understand plenty of our ways, King Agak. But I have lived long enough without them to know that they are old and decrepit. The House of Mist is a broken lineage. The Locust is dead. The Nacht is dead. Our Gods are dead, and our ways should have died with them."

"You blaspheme!" Agak shouted, furious at the immense sin of this anomaly. "Guards, end his meager existence!" The guards began to rush Bartleby, but X'lish calmly unholstered a nine millimeter handgun and fired it into the air, sending the guards scattering. Moments later a small chunk of the ceiling fell to the ground.

"This is a nine millimeter semi-automatic hand gun." X'lish began talking and pacing back and forth in front of the guards, who shied away from her when she approached. "With it, I have the power to propel small metal pellets through the heads of seventeen of your guards, eviscerating their skulls into pieces and sending their brain matter flying in many directions. This small handgun is but a flea compared to the weapons at Glaian's disposal. With these superweapons, he could coat this entire fortress in a compound that burns so hot it would melt the stone into porridge. Or he could simply level the mountains themselves with high impact explosives and bury you with the ensuing rubble. My point is that fighting his armies on your own will get all of you killed. He took Atheia in twelve minutes. He could wipe your people off of the face of the earth in less time than it would take me to kill the inhabitants of this room. Your only chance is our assault. If that fails, everyone in this valley will die."

"If he is really as powerful as you say, then how can you hope to beat him? If my people have to die, I will have them die protecting something they care about, not trying to rescue a city of human garbage." The King replied, entertaining this creatures ramblings.

"We intend to catch him off guard, and before he has a chance to use any of his superweapons, we will destroy them. We will put an end to him when he least expects it. And we have some advanced technology of our own that will level the playing field a little."

"Your strange phrases have amused me, but I am confident in my people's ability to survive. We have done so in the face of adversity for generations."

"But not by being inactive pigs!" Bartleby shouted, catching the entire room by surprise. "These was a time before our people became so enchanted with the House of Mist. A time when great minds devised the most impregnable mountain fortress the world had ever seen. A time when we were more than common bandits and scavengers. When we were respected as inhabitants of this valley. But then the Locust's adherents took power, and we began to desire more and more of what we did not earn for ourselves. And in response we were crushed, again and again and again until we became nothing more than squatters in our own home. Mice living off of scraps. Your passivity didn't carve these tunnels that house you, and your directionless, half-hearted ambition did not build the obsidian wall that protects you. A prouder people did. A stronger people did, and if you want any chance at having even a shred of that glory again, you will lay down these past grievances and you will behave like the great people your ancestors knew how to be. Hating humans cut us low. Very low. Hating humans more will not build us back up. It will destroy us entirely. And I for one will not stick around to see the place where I was born drown itself in that hate." Bartleby began to leave.

"Wait!" King Agak pondered the anomaly's words for a moment. "Your words carry truth. A truth that destroyed my predecessor, and a truth I can no longer ignore. I think I speak for my people when I say that if we are to die, we would be glad to die beside one such as honorable as you. For too long I have lived in blind denial of my own weakness. I will live so not a moment more. Your allies will have our support. What would you have us do?" Bartleby was taken aback, but recovered quickly.

"Have your men position themselves in the mountains just outside of Atheia's eastern gate. When you see the column of red smoke, attack the city with all of your might. But don't harm the humans or their allies."

"It shall be done." Agak turned to one of his guards. "You there, put out the general call to arms. Have the men follow the young one's instructions to the letter." The guards bounded out of the room. King Agak began walking towards another exit at the back of the room. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must take my men and prepare for war." He pointed at Zel and Yir. "And that means you two as well. I can't have you bothering our honorable friend with your annoying presences."

"Yes, my King." Both of them replied in unison. They bounded off after him, relieved to get away from X'lish and her knife. X'lish and Bartleby meanwhile walked back out of the fortress in the direction they came in, and eventually made it back to the cloaked dropship. X'lish banged on the side, and the pilot dropped the stealth mode. The two climbed inside, and X'lish made her way to the pilot's compartment.

"I told you I didn't need backup." She said as she slid into the copilot's chair.

"So, how'd the meeting go?" The pilot asked.

"They'll help. Now get us in position over the gate. We're on a tight schedule."

"Yes ma'am." The pilot lifted the craft off of the ground and flew into position hovering above the eastern gate's vehicle depot. They were parked there for nearly an hour before an explosion went off inside the city, followed closely by the signal flare. Instantly several things happened. A tiny ball of fire erupted at the North gate's fence, a small force of humans came rushing out of their concealed positions in the plains, and a massive army of rat creatures rushed down from the mountains. This mass of shuffling bodies swarmed over the vehicle depot and smashed the gate to the city with its sheer might. At the front, leading the charge, was King Agak, wielding one of the war clubs of his predecessor. The dropship touched down on the ground just as the humans, led by Phoney, reached the vehicle depot.

"It looks like negotiations panned out." He said as X'lish's team offloaded from the dropship. "Everyone else is in position, so we need to get to work fast planting these explosives."

"Roger that, boss man." X'lish said casually, itching to get to some actual fighting. It took over time, but they eventually laid waste to the vehicles in the depot that were still functioning after the massive tidal wave of rat creatures tore it apart, save for a convoy of nine APCs to transport the human prisoners to safety. Just as X'lish was about to climb into the one Phoney and Bartleby were already in, a gunshot sounded off and a bullet landed near her feet, kicking up a tuft of dirt. X'lish scanned the top of the wall, and locked eyes with the shooter just as she began speaking.

"Hello dear sister!" Nibet shouted down at X'lish. "It appears we still have some issues to resolve! I've come to challenge you to one last sparing match! Winner takes the loser's life!" X'lish knew Nibet's sudden turnaround was too good to be true.

"I accept!" She shouted back up at Nibet. Phoney was about to speak, but X'lish cut him off. "Listen, something's obviously gone wrong. Just get these APCs to the north gate and evacuate the humans. I'll find out what's gotten into my sister." She slammed the door in his face, and the APCs drove off. X'lish turned back to the wall and saw her sister leap backward off of it and into the city below. X'lish walked through the gates, chasing after her sister one last time.

* * *

"Sorry, sir. I'll bring it over right away." Fone said to the quartermaster. He locked eyes with Jigafta momentarily before he walked back onto the dropship to the pilot's chair and raising the ramp behind him. He then lifted the dropship into the air and, after flying for a few moments, seamlessly activated the stealth drive. The whole ship vanished into the night sky. He landed the dropship in the middle of the decayed village, about fifty yards or so from the north gate, and just in front of the fence that cut its way through the middle of the village. After he landed, he walked through the main compartment of the dropship back to the entrance ramp. As he let down the ramp, he shouted behind him.

"All clear! Let's get this show on the road!" In response, one of the two large storage compartments in the false floor opened up, and Thorn pulled herself out.

"Do you know how stuffy it is in there?" She asked as she stood up, pulling their gear up after her. She slung her sniper rifle and her scabbard over her shoulder and handed Fone his bag.

"No, and I don't want to find out." Fone responded as he took the bag from her outstretched hand. From it he pulled the explosive charge they were going to use to knock down the fence. "We should probably get everyone to move back before we arm the charges. Otherwise things might get messy."

"Who's everyone?" Thorn asked as the ramp finished lowering.

"The human refugees. Don't tell me you forgot-" Fone stopped mid-sentence as he noticed that, despite the message Ted supposedly delivered, no one had gathered at the north gate. "Well, that complicates things a bit." Fone walked up to the fence and placed the detonation charge in the wire frame.

"I wonder if Ted is okay." Thorn stared out at the empty camp. There was no one around, but the myriad of tents scattered throughout the camp gave the impression that the prison camp should have been bustling with activity, even without directions from Ted.

"I'm sure he's fine. We can figure out what made everyone vanish after we see the signal." Fone walked back inside the dropship and stood beside Thorn.

"Well I'm not so sure he's fine. There can't be a good reason a prisoner camp full of tents would be completely deserted."

"Maybe, since it's the middle of the night, they all went to sleep?" Fone proposed.

"Maybe. But probably not. None of this feels right. I feel like I'm being watched. It'd help to have my Veni-Yan-Cari abilities back right about now."

"Any idea why you can't use them?" Fone asked.

"Nope. The good news is I no longer get headaches when I try to use them, but I still can't resonate with the Dreaming. It's all out of balance, and on a whole other level from when the Locust woke up. And more than that, it's fuzzy. Muted, almost. I can't make heads or tails of it, much less draw power form it."

"Do you know what's causing it?"

"No idea. It could be Glaian's invasion force, but that seems extremely unlikely."

"Don't sweat it so much. We'll get an explanation eventually. We just might not like it."

"I wish I shared your optimism." Thorn sighed. In the distance a column of red smoke launched into the sky.

"Well, here goes nothing." Fone withdrew the detonator for the charge from his bag. He flicked the small switch, setting off the charge. The charge's small but powerful explosion ripped the fence to shreds, and nearly knocked the pair of their feet. After they recovered, Fone fished yet another item out of his bag: a small handgun.

"Do you know how to use that thing?" Thorn asked as the two of them proceeded slowly through the wreckage of the fence.

"Shooting was one of the hobbies I picked up after I left to occupy my time when I was having trouble writing. So, yes, I know how to use it." Their conversation was interrupted when a human stumbled out of the tent to their right before collapsing to the ground. It was Wendell, and he looked very malnourished, almost near starving.

"Wendell!" Thorn and Fone shouted in tandem as they ran over to help him onto his feet.

"Where is everyone? What happened here?" Fone asked as Wendell regained his footing.

"Hell. That's what happened here." Wendell spat. "Most of the Venu guards had their legs broken the first day. We've barely been given any food, and for the first few weeks, Glaian's soldiers used to beat people at random. Those of us who could still walk anyway. After a while, Glaian pulled his soldiers out and left Gabriel in charge."

"Wait, Gabriel? What is he doing out of his cell?" Thorn asked.

"Glaian let him out. From what I understand, Gabriel volunteered to "govern" us until Glaian finished whatever he came here to do. Glaian gave him one of the Bones' weapons and he's been living like a king in the only solid structure in the whole camp, a complex made out of the shell of a burnt-out housing block near the wall."

"What about Ted? Did he deliver his message?"

"Yeah. He showed up this morning and told me and Euclid to gather everyone by the gate come nightfall. Unfortunately, Gabriel overheard us. He shot Euclid in the leg and dragged him and some of the others his complex. He said he'd shoot anyone who attempted to leave their tents."

"Where is this complex?"

"That way." Wendell pointed directly east. "It's not far."

"Can you walk okay?" Fone asked. Wendell looked shaky just standing on his own. Fone wasn't confident in his friend's ability to ambulate.

"I'll manage." Wendell winced and clutched his side, but remained upright.

"If you say so. We'll go take care of Gabriel. You get into our dropship and wait for Phoney to come with the rescue team. If we aren't back by the time he arrives, tell him everything you told us." Wendell nodded and began walking in the direction they had come from. Fone and Thorn meanwhile ran east. It didn't take them long to find the complex Wendell spoke of.

"Gabriel's probably expecting us. We should proceed with caution." Thorn heeded. She pressed her ear to the door, and could hear unintelligible chatter on the other side. All she could make out was "shadows of… pierce the world, the... is forever unfurled." She pulled her head away. "Well, someone's in there alright."

"He's one old guy who can probably barely even use a gun. We'll be fine." Fone said as he opened the door and stuck his head through the door to survey the empty room. "There's no one here." he announced prematurely. Almost immediately, the door slammed against his temple, and he fell to the floor, winded. Gabriel stepped out from behind the door and grabbed Fone by the neck before Thorn could react, and held his gun up to the back of Fone's head. Thorn took a step forward as she leveled her sniper rifle.

"Don't move." He spat at Thorn through gritted teeth. "If you do anything I don't like, I'll put one straight through the back of his head."

"Put him down, Gabriel." Thorn commanded, locking eyes with the old man.

"Not happening, girl. Lower your gun, and maybe I'll think about it." She was on the verge of pulling the trigger.

"I'm a crack shot with this rifle, and you're a sad, withered old fool. I could put a bullet between your eyes before you could attempt to kill him. But I'm willing to give you one last chance. Put him down."

"Not until you hear what I have to say. Things are not as they appear."

"They never were with you. Now put him down or I kill you."

"I told you it won't happen!" He shouted. Thorn pulled the trigger three times, and put two bullets in Gabriel: one in the hand holding the gun and one in his shoulder. The third one was intended for his face, but it missed by a hair's breadth. His gun fired a single shot. Thorn's heart skipped a beat, but Fone stood up from the encounter without a scratch. Thorn breathed a sigh of relief.

"That wasn't like you. You're usually more careful than that." Thorn admonished Fone as he walked to her side rubbing his temple.

"Sorry. The excitement must be getting to me. I'll try not to be an idiot in the future." He replied sheepishly.

"Good. I can't have you dying on me again before we have a chance to sort out our relationship." She let the comment hang nonchalantly in the air. Fone froze for half a second, still not entirely used to her newfound affections for him, but decided to not purse the topic. The door standing opposite of them had a crude lock on it. Thorn broke it off while Fone took Gabriel's gun and made sure he didn't pose a threat. Inside the door was a mass of humans all huddled around Euclid, who was lying on the floor. His legs were bleeding.

"Gabriel's been dealt with. If you head to the north gate, there should be people there waiting to bring you to safety. Hurry." Thorn said to her subjects. They all picked up Euclid and hurriedly shuffled their way out of the complex.

"Thank you." Euclid muttered as he was carried out of the room. Thorn and Fone were about to leave as well when Gabriel propped up his torso in the doorway and began speaking.

"Have you ever heard the tale of the first human queen?" He asked the pair. They stared at each other, confused by the reasoning behind his statement. He continued talking regardless. "After Mim was defeated and the Valley cooled, there were comparatively few humans left who had survived. Those that did needed leadership. The Pawans formed isolated chiefdoms that eventually congregated very loosely under one flag. And the Morudagni began following occult priests who lead them on a vicious warpath. But the people of the southern valley saw truth in how Mim ruled, and therefore placed their strongest, most charismatic, most skilled warrior at the head of their people as an absolute sovereign. Her name was Ven, and she was the first human queen. Now, how much of that did you already know?" Fone rolled his eyes.

"Come on Thorn, let's go. It's not healthy to entertain the crazy ranting of an old fool." He turned to leave, but Thorn stayed, interested in Gabriel's words.

"What's a Morudagni?" She asked. The term was new to her, as it would have been to all but the oldest or most cryptic of the Valley's denizens.

"I'm glad you asked." Gabriel said matter-of-factly. "I didn't know myself until I joined the Vedu. They were a clan of humans that the dragons and the Atheians turned their backs on after Mim's imprisonment, and in response this clan waged a massive war against the people of the Valley. This war lasted thirty years, from just after Ven's birth to just before her death. The Morudagni lost, and as a result were cast out into the wilderness. This has all been stricken from all but the oldest of the oldest of tomes, but I can assure you it happened." He pointed at Fone, who was leaning against the side of the house impatiently. "They are also his people." Fone was taken aback.

"What do you mean, my people? You think the bones somehow came from this valley? That we were once human? That's preposterous." He asked, now too interested in Gabriel's words.

"Give it some thought, will you? Your people came out of the desert. The only other thing that desert touches is this valley. Did you think your people just sprang up from the desert sand?"

"But bones and humans are too completely different species." Thorn said. "There's no way they could have once been the same."

"They were. And I'll prove it to you. I met with Glaian after he first took over, and he told me that he came from the clan Nagratek. It is, after all, his last name. That name interested me because, almost ten years ago, when I first joined the Vedu, Tarsil showed me the oldest scroll in his collection of tomes. It was one of the first every written by our ancestors. It was about the origins of the Venu order of monks. Ven, as you know, was a Veni-Yan-Cari, and trained with a group of monks that later devoted themselves to the training of more of her kind. What you don't know is that the order wasn't founded by her or by the dragons, it was founded by the captain of her personal guard. He was a gifted warrior, and was instrumental in helping Ven band together the Southern tribes under the Atheian flag. He also led many battles against the Morudagni during the latter half of the war. And after it, he was tasked with leading the conquered Morudagni out into the wilderness to die, as penance for an unstated crime. Somewhere along that journey, he must have changed his mind however, because now there exists today, among these "Bone" people, a clan named after him. Can you guess what his name was?" Thorn and Fone didn't speak, but they both knew. "Nagratek. His name was Nagratek."

"You were right, Fone." Thorn said as she stood up. "It's not healthy to indulge him any longer." The two of them began walking back to the dropship. Gabriel frantically yelled after them.

"Wait! I have more to tell you! You don't know what you're getting into! He'll betray you! He'll use you! He'll leave you! It's what his kind does! That's what all nightmares do! They were built to make you suffer! All of you!" The shouting faded behind them as they approached the north gate. By the time they got back, Phoney and his men had already shown up and were loading people onto the APCs for evacuation. Fone locked eyes with Wendell among the crowd of refugees, and the look of relief on his face gave Fone renewed vigor.

"Where's X'lish?" Thorn asked as the two of them met up with Phoney, Bartleby, and three humans standing just inside the gate.

"Nibet showed up. On Glaian's side again, I think. X'lish is back at the east gate dealing with her. My men can handle the evacuation. For now, we proceed as planned. We have to meet up with the rest of the team first." Confident, the group walked into the city to face whatever Glaian could muster. On a nearby rooftop, two Bones stood out of sight. One was tall and lanky, cover in crystal, smoking a cigar, and admiring the starlight. The other was made of pure shadow, with a faint glowing scar imprinted upon the essence of his left eye. He laughed internally at the genius of his design.

"All according to plan." He muttered. Then the two of them walked back into the shadows to make their final preparations for the Councilman's release.


	21. Foundations: Part 2

Author's Note: As of June 27th, 2016, the entire fanfic has been rewritten. That means this chapter, all that came before it, and all that follow it now contain different content that they did previously. You are strongly encouraged to go back and reread the entire fanfic from the beginning, as the revised continuity may confuse you if you jump in part of the way through.

* * *

_**Penthouse floor of the Ryonia Building, 237 Obsidian Drive, New Taebid City**_

_**October 2498, Twenty-eight years ago**_

"So do either of you know why we were sent here to protect Lady Ryonia?" X'lish asked Nibet and Izagail via the microphone end of her standard issue communications headset: a wireframe band that connected two small padded speakers which lay over the holes in the side of her head that served as her ears with a microphone on a snaking wire coming out of one speaker. She was laying on her stomach on the top of a building adjacent to the Ryonia Corporations tower aiming through the scope of a sniper rifle at the penthouse window and the entrance of a secret elevator behind it. She, just like every other member of her team, was wearing a standard issue vanguard armor set: a black full body suit made from several layers of carbon fiber and ballistic resistant fabrics and a tactical harness designed to carry an array of equipment.

"You broke radio silence for that? Seriously?" Nibet asked. She was crouched directly opposite the elevator behind an opaque glass railing mounted on an open staircase that led from the lounge area of the penthouse to the rest of the floor. "That info's way above our clearance. It's not our business who's trying to threaten our members, just that we stop them."

"I agree with Nibet. It's not our place to question our orders. Even if we aren't privy to the inner workings of why they are issued." Izagail chimed in. He had pressed himself flat against the section of wall next to where the secret elevator was supposed to open up. Together, the three of them had set up a kill box to take out anyone who would try to use the elevator to gain access to the penthouse and the occupants inside.

"You always agree with Nibet." X'lish replied rolling her eyes.

"Well, she's always right. Obviously."

"That is so not the reason, and you know it."

"What are you two talking about?" Nibet probed. X'lish had been antagonizing Izagail for a couple of days, and Nibet was beginning to wonder what was going on between them.

"Ask Izagail. I'm sure he'd love to tell you."

"This is not the time or the place for this conversation." Izagail said, trying to change the topic before X'lish mentioned that he had the hots for her sister. "We've got a job to do."

"Right. The job." X'lish returned to her original train of thought, letting Izagail off the hook for the time being. "I'd feel more comfortable aiming a sniper rifle at an empty section of wall if I knew who was going to come out of the other side. That's all I'm saying."

"You already know who. People who wish Lady Ryonia harm. And that's all you need to know." Nibet was tiring of her sister's constant rambling.

"But who wishes her harm, exactly? A criminal syndicate? A rival corporation? Humanist spies? I'd like to know that I'm protecting her because someone wants to destroy the Order, and not because she failed to pay a loan or because someone got pissed at her after she bought out another company."

"Are you implying that our work is not holy enough for your standards? We are the protectors of the faithful. Be that protection against threats of external origin or against demons of their own making, our job is just as important."

"I guess so. But it's a hell of a lot less satisfying if we're fighting the latter."

"I don't really see the difference."

"Cut the chatter." Izagail interrupted. A circle of light appeared on the section of wall next to him. "The elevator's here." He crept back as the wall retracted and split apart, revealing the interior of the secret elevator. "Nibet. Can you see what's inside?" He whispered into his comm-set.

"Nothing, as far as the snake camera can tell." She had with her a small, handheld monitor with a handle. Connected to that handle was a thin, segmented, flexible metal line that ran underneath the railing she was crouched behind. On the end of the snake was a small camera pointed at the elevator, feeding information back to the monitor. "Switching to infrared." She announced. She pressed a small button on the side of the device, and the feed changed from normal to heat-vision. There were no heat signatures in the elevator, or anywhere in the walls next to or above it. "Nothing on infrared either."

"I'll check inside, just to be on the safe side." Izagail replied. He cautiously inched his way into the elevator. It was empty. "There seems to be nothing here. But I'll keep looking." He walked to the middle of the elevator and noticed that on the ceiling there was a maintenance hatch. He opened it up. "Hello." He whispered to himself as he jumped up, grabbing the lip of the hole and pulling himself up above the elevator.

"Izagail, where'd you go?" Nibet asked. His heat signature had disappeared from her camera display.

"Calm down. I'm up in the elevator shaft. Though I appreciate the concern." Izagail said as he walked around on top of the elevator looking for intruders.

"No I mean your heat signature disappeared. The shaft must be insulated, there's no telling who or what they could have hid up there."

"Oh relax will you? There's no one up here anyw-" Izagail made a strange grunting noise midsentence, followed by complete static.

"Nibet, what the hell happened?" X'lish asked her sister. She had the scope of her rifle trained on the entrance to the elevator, but nothing had moved since Izagail went in.

"I think Izagail's been attacked. Maybe even killed. Either way, our target is in that elevator." Nibet replied as she drew her pistol and poked her head over the side of the railing to get a good view of the elevator.

"Oh, don't worry. He isn't dead." An unfamiliar male voice spoke to the sisters over Izagail's comm-set. "He's just unconscious. For now. And if you want him to stay that way, your sniper on the adjacent rooftop will hold her fire while I come out of the elevator."

"Who are you?" X'lish asked angrily. "And how did you know I was here?"

"You've been talking on a relatively unsecure channel. I've known you were there since you started chatting." A solitary male bone stepped out of the elevator wearing Izagail's comm-set on his head, a balaclava with a hole in the middle for his nose to poke through, and what appeared to be military grade spec-ops protective gear. Nibet raised her gun to take a shot at him.

"No, don't!" X'lish shouted into her earpiece. "If you kill him, Izagail will die!"

"Izagail's life matters little compared with protecting Lady Ryonia! I'll do what I must!" Nibet shouted back.

"You'd better listen to her. If you kill me now, I'll release this button here." In his hand, the bone was holding a small device with one button, which he was currently holding down. "If that were to happen, the copious amounts of explosives we've placed on the foundations of this building will detonate, pulling the building to the ground and killing everyone inside in the process, including the woman you were assigned to protect. You wouldn't want that, now would you?"

"What do you want us to do?" Nibet asked spitefully as she lowered her gun.

"Toss your gun into the elevator." Nibet threw her gun as hard as she could directly at his face. He dodged effortlessly and the firearm landed inside the elevator. "Hostile. That's understandable, given your situation. But any more behavior like that and you die. Now turn around and put your hands behind your back." Nibet did as she was told. Another Bone, dressed in the same manner as his partner, dropped down from the hatch in the elevator's ceiling and picked up her gun. He was also carrying a pair of handcuffs. He walked over from the elevator to her and secured them around her wrists.

"There, you see? That wasn't so hard." The first intruder said. He plucked Nibet's comm-set off of her head and gave it to the second intruder. "I'm going on ahead. Make sure she doesn't try anything." The second one positioned the comm-set on his head, nodded, and aimed Nibet's gun at her head. The first one walked up the stairs and through the door to the rest of the compound.

"Before you try to kill me," The second one said to X'lish. "If I don't check in with my partner every so often, he'll let the bombs go off. So don't get any bright ideas about shooting me." With that out of the way, he sat down, with his back turned to X'lish. He motioned for Nibet to sit down as well. "Sit down. It's going to be awhile. We might as well get comfortable." Nibet grudgingly did as she was told.

"Just so you know, when I get out of these I'll cut your throat out." She said. He laughed, but she could see a bead of sweat run down the side of his face.

"You sound pissed. Let me take a guess. That guy up there's your boyfriend?" He nodded at the elevator.

"No. Unfortunately, he's just her friend. Though not for much longer, if I can help it." X'lish said into her comm-set. She knew the intruder was here to kill Lady Ryonia, but unless she kept him talking everyone could be killed, so she tried to hold his attention at least long enough for Selthash's team to get Lady Ryonia to safety.

"Oh. That is a shame." The intruder replied. "Just between us, I'd hate to have to kill him. I'd hate to have to kill any of you, to be honest. You all seem like really nice people and I hope all of us can walk away from this intact."

"What are you playing at?" Nibet asked the intruder callously. He ignored her.

"If it comes down to it though, you might not have another choice." X'lish was doing the best she could not to start screaming as she waited for Selthash's team to come bursting through the door with the first intruder captive. "Because Lady Ryonia's life is more important than any member of this team. And we are not about to let you threaten it wantonly."

"I think you've somehow mistaken why we've came here today. You see we aren't here to kill anyone. We just need some information from your client. As soon as my associate gets what he wants, we'll disarm the bombs and leave the building in peace. Assuming you don't interrupt, that is." Nibet could hear a hint of anxiety and fear in the intruder's voice. He wasn't used to their line of work. He wasn't a professional assassin. He was faking. But his partner wasn't.

"Don't trust him! He's bluffing. He may be a rookie, but his partner is here to kill Lady Ryonia!" Nibet shouted, hoping she was shouting loud enough for her comm-set to pick up her words and get her message through to her sister.

"Hey, can you keep it down over there? I'm trying to hold a conversation." His arrogant pretending pushed Nibet over the edge.

"That's it, I can't take this anymore!" Nibet shouted. She jumped up and swung her hands under her legs, landing in an attack position. "Least of all from an amateur like you!" She swung her right leg at his head in a roundhouse motion. He dodged back, and her leg barely missed striking his nose.

"Amateur? I'm hurt. Would an amateur have been able to dodge that attack?" The intruder mused. She screamed and thrusted her left knee at his gut. He threw her gun to the side and caught her leg inches from his stomach with both of his hands. She brought her hands, still bound together by the handcuffs, down on top of his head. He used his right hand to catch her fists from pounding his skull, and at the same time his left leg to kick her right leg out from under her, knocking both of them to the ground and slamming her on her back. He stood up as she recovered from having the wind knocked out of her.

"You're not going to listen to me not matter what I say, are you? So, instead of talking, how about we pass the time by make this interesting?" He asked her as she stood up. "I will not call in with my partner. This building will explode. Unless you can manage to pull this device off of my head in the next ninety seconds." He tapped the comm-set on the side of his head. "If you can, you, your friend, and your client all get to live another few minutes. If you can't, all of us blow up." Additionally, he took out a set of keys from one of his pockets. "And to make things really interesting, how about I give you these." He tossed them to Nibet. She caught them, and instantly used them to undo her handcuffs. "What do you say?"

"I'm going to rip the eyes out of your fucking skull with my bare hands." Nibet growled as she rubbed where the cuffs made contact with her wrists, a mixture of rage and glee permeating her voice.

"I'll take that as a yes." He responded as he stepped back into a fighting stance. "Let's get started, shall we?" Nibet instantly rushed forward and tried to punch him in the face. The intruder instinctively blocked with his arm, but instead of striking it she undid her fist at the last second and grabbed his arm. Pulling on the arm in her grip, she threw him to the floor and tried to break his leg. He caught her fist with his free hand. Then, lying on his stomach, he managed to get enough momentum to kick her in the face. As she reeled back, she released her grip on his arm and gave him enough time to stand up.

"I'll give you some credit, you certainly know how to fight." The intruder commented smugly as Nibet regained her bearings. She locked eyes with him and tried to roundhouse kick him in the face again. He dodged underneath her leg and jabbed her in between her ribs. She tried to punch him in the face as he stepped out in front of her again, but he swatted her fist to the side and kneed her in the stomach. Before she could catch her breath, he elbowed her in her temple and knocked her to the ground. As she tried to regain her composure, he continued to talk. "But you're sloppy. You let me get inside your head. This fight was over from the start." He moved over to her on the ground and tried to kick her in the temple, but X'lish interrupted him.

"If you kill her, I'll not hesitate to shoot you." X'lish shouted into her comm-set as she trained the sniper rifle's reticule on the back of his head.

"Oh would you relax? I said I have no intention of killing anyone. And besides, the glass in reinforced. There's no way you could actually shoot through it." He replied. For good measure he turned to face X'lish, unaware that Nibet was beginning to regain her footing. X'lish decided to keep him occupied until Nibet could make her move. She aimed slightly to his left, and fired a round. It punched a fist-sized hole straight through the window, which buckled from the impact and fell out of its frame, landing on the floor in several fractured sheets of glass. The bullet thudded into the ground to the intruder's right. He flinched slightly as the bullet flew past his face, his fear momentarily betraying him on his face. X'lish took note.

"It can't stop a high velocity round. Now surrender and call in with your partner like everything's fine. Or things will get messy."

"You can't afford to kill me. Without me, this whole building crumbles to dust." Nibet reared up to strike him in the back of the head.

"Who said anything about killing you?" X'lish asked. Right as Nibet was about to knock him to the floor, he ducked to the side and scooped up the gun lying on the ground. As she turned toward him, he shot her in the shoulder three times. She fell to the ground, winded but not wounded. He walked up to her, pulled a knife from his belt, stabbed her in the spot he shot her to make in opening in her suit, and shot her there again three more times. This time, the bullets went through. With Nibet subdued, he sheathed his knife, put the gun against her forehead, and spoke to X'lish though his comm-set.

"Your teammate is incapacitated, and therefore cannot continue in our little competition. You now have a few options. One: You shoot me, the bombs explodes, and you get to watch everyone die. Two: I shoot her, you shoot me, the bombs explodes, and you still get to watch everyone die. Three: We wait this out, my partner doesn't get back in time, I don't call in, the bombs explodes, and yet again everyone dies. Or four: You come down here and try to get this device off of my head in your teammate's place, and your friends have a chance at survival. You have thirty seconds to decide."

"I'll be right there." X'lish responded. Next to her was a tripod with a small rectangle positioned on top. She pressed a button on the side, and a hole opened up in the rectangle. Out of the hole shot a barbed, three pronged metal hook attached to a thick metal wire that swiftly bridged the gap between the two buildings, imbedded itself just above the broken window, and pulled taut. X'lish stood up from her post, taking her sniper rifle with her, and laid it on top of the wire. Holding on to both ends of the rifle, she leapt from the roof of the building and sped along the wire on her makeshift zip-line straight through the broken window. As she reached the end of the line, she let go of the barrel of her rifle and swung it around as she landed, aiming the muzzle directly at the intruder's head.

"Very impressive." The intruder laugher as he took a few steps back towards the area of the lounge that contained several high-end couches. "But you still can't kill me. Meanwhile I can kill you whenever I want to." He aimed his handgun at her head. "So now you've got two options. Fight me hand-to-hand, or surrender."

"If you think that I'd ever surrender to the likes of you Nibet must've seriously knocked something loose in your brain. You shot my sister. I'm going to repay you in kind." X'lish spat out as her finger tightened around the trigger.

"So her name's Nibet, is it? Nice name. And she's your sister? I never would have guessed. But unfortunately you failed to make your choice in time. So you, your sister, and your friend in the elevator shaft all get to die together in a second." He took another step back and his foot bumped up against one of the couches. In the blink of an eye he vaulted over the couch behind him, landed on the ground, and instantly rolled underneath another one and out of X'lish's line of sight. She lowered her rifle and instantly chased after him

"Time's up!" He shouted at her from the couches. She stopped, and briefly glanced at the open elevator before grabbing Nibet and dragging her desperately to the open window, prepared to jump out in anything exploded. When nothing happened, she paused, and considered that the whole thing might have been a ruse. She dragged her sister back from the window and laid her down at the foot of the staircase to get her out of the way. She began to run towards where the intruder had hidden himself, but just as she left her sister's side the ground beneath her exploded. Chunks of floor flew up past her face with a substantial pressure wave right behind them that carried her across the room. She blacked out before she hit the ground.

* * *

"Though your offer is much appreciated, Vanguard Jeleset, I need no protection from Kelkaid's phantoms. That man has been trying to get me to move my family to a more secure location where he could personally oversee our safety for almost two years now. No doubt to better control my children and by extension place the future of my considerable wealth further under his control. His warnings in the past proved to be inconsequential, and this one will as well." Lady Ryonia insisted angrily. She was conversing with Jeleset inside her substantial bedroom wearing a long, flowing red dress and black heels. Her children, Nemyunoi and Wunkhani, were playing on the other side of the room.

"Lady Ryonia, with all due respect, the threat is real this time. We lost contact with our men inside the NTPD, which means they've more than likely been compromised. And until we can ascertain what information, if any, they leaked about the Order, we have to treat this situation as if whatever party was responsible for the security leak has access to all of the information those officers knew. Now among the list of compromised officers is a man who used to work for you and had knowledge of your private elevator, which potentially puts you directly in this group's line of fire. We're just here to make sure you and your family remain safe until another team conducts an investigation and we know for sure whether or not you are in danger." Jeleset responded, her patience growing wearier by the second.

"And I assume once you learn that I'm in danger you'll escort me to a more secure location?"

"If that is in fact the case, we will have no choice but to extract you to our headquarters where you can be protected more efficiently."

"Of course you will." Lady Ryonia sighed and sat on her bed. "This is by far the most elaborate excuse Kelkaid has come up with to try to convince me to move. I can't believe I missed a dinner party for this." She stood up again and walked over to her antique ebony bedside table, upon which resided, among other personal items, a phone. She picked it up and began to dial a number.

"What are you doing? We can't have you communicating with the outside! Your phone lines could be being monitored." Jeleset shouted.

"Oh would you relax? I'm not calling Kelkaid, much as I would like to. I'm just calling my friend Patrick to tell him I can't make it to his benefit tonight. Now it you don't mind, I prefer privacy when making telephone calls." Lady Ryonia shooed Jeleset out of the door with a wave of her hand.

"Very well. I'll be outside if you need anything." Jeleset bowed and walked out of the room, carefully closing the door behind her. Beyond the door, Selthash and Viprus were standing guard.

"What's the word?" Viprus asked.

"She'll stay put for now. But if things go south and we have to move her to HQ, I don't think she'll be very cooperative." Jeleset sighed and leaned against the wall. "Though, with the way this night has been going, I doubt it'll come to that."

"Maybe we'd better check in with the other team, just to make sure everything's going well." Selthash suggested.

"Lady Ryonia lined the interior rooms of this floor with copper wiring. Our comm-sets are useless outside the lobby." Viprus replied.

"Paranoid bitch." Selthash muttered. Jeleset slapped him.

"Watch your tongue, weasel." She spat. "Regardless, we have our orders and they have theirs. If two highly trained close combat specialists and a sniper are not capable of holding a single room, then they have no business calling themselves Vanguards." Just then a Bone in military gear and a balaclava rounded the corner. All three of them raised their guns in tandem and prepared to shoot.

"I wouldn't, if I were you." He raised his hands, and in one he had his finger pressed on the button of a small detonator. "If you kill me, explosives planted on this building's foundation will bring the entire structure down around you in a matter of seconds, killing you, your teammates, and you client."

"You're bluffing." Viprus responded. "No one would be willing to sacrifice themselves just to kill an innocent businesswoman."

"Innocent?" The intruder scoffed. "You're defending this woman and you don't even know what she's done? I guess that's life for you. But that is beside the point. I am here to accomplish a task. You're mistaken to assume that I intend for any harm to come to your client. I actually need her alive, but I have armed this device as a means of insuring my survival should you be stupid enough to consider killing me. If you still think that I'm bluffing, by all means, shoot me now. In the few second of life you'll have left afterwards, I hope you enjoy the fact that you will be directly responsible for your client's demise." After a moment's hesitation, all three of them lowered their guns.

"Fantastic." The intruder beamed as he approached the door leading to Lady Ryonia's bedroom. Jeleset, Selthash, and Viprus all tensed up, preparing to subdue him when he reached them. He stopped.

"I know you're all waiting to attack me as soon as I get in arms reach. You should know, however, that there is a three second lag between when I take my finger off of this button and when the explosives detonate. If you think you're fast enough to take it from me in that timeframe, by all means, try." Instantly Selthash rushed forward and threw a knife at the man's forearm. The intruder caught the knife with his free hand and threw it back, grazing Selthash on the shoulder.

"That's smart. Sever my nerves and I can't move my fingers." The intruder commented as Seltash reached the man and drew a second knife. Before he could use it, the intruder struck Selthash in the neck and he fell to the ground unconscious. "Unfortunately, you lack the necessary training to implement such a plan. Now who's next?"

Viprus unsheathed the sword on his back, jumped up into the air, and kicked off the wall to propel himself at the man's face. Jeleset meanwhile dropped low and tried to sever his Achilles tendon while Viprus distracted him. The intruder jumped up, narrowly avoiding Jeleset's knife, grabbed Viprus's sword hand, and smashed his shoulder into Viprus's stomach. As his momentum carried him upward, he took Viprus with him and slammed him into the ceiling. As Viprus lost his grip from the force of the combined impacts, the intruder took hold of the sword and imbedded it in Jeleset's shoulder as he landed, pinning her to the ground. As she tried to free herself, he kicked her in the temple and knocked her unconscious as well. By this point Viprus had landed. The intruder approached him, dropped the detonator next to his head, and squatted down next to him.

"The detonator was a fake. There are no explosives. It was my partner's idea, actually: trick you into letting down your guard down so we could incapacitate you rather than just straight up kill you. If this was up to me, all six of you would have been dead almost an hour ago, but we aren't the bad guys here, so you're still alive. I hope you have sense enough to see that in the future. For what it's worth, kid, you all fought well. As well as can be expected anyway. Maybe in about a century or so, you'll be able to try to take me on again. Until then, get some rest." He punched Viprus in the back of the head, taking him out of the equation. Then he stole the handgun out of Viprus's holster.

With them out of the way, he stood up and opened the door to Lady Ryonia's room. Inside, Lady Roynia was still in the middle of her phone call. When she heard the door open, she turned around to admonish whoever had interrupted her.

"I said not to interrupt-" Her words caught in her throat as she stared down the barrel of a handgun. She looked behind him to see the three unconscious bodies of her protectors on the floor, and made a small, frightened noise.

"Hang up the phone." The intruder growled.

"Patrick I'll call you back." She said abruptly into the receiver. She hung up the phone and put her hands above her head. "What do you want from me?" She asked. "If you're here for money, I'll give you whatever you want, just don't take the only parent my children have left away from them."

"Spare me your sob story. You probably had your husband killed anyway. I'm her for information about the Order. Comply and I'll let your children live." He aimed the gun at the children playing on the other side of the room. Lady Ryonia almost attacked him right then, but she reevaluated her situation. Killing someone who could best three Vanguard wouldn't be an easy task, so she decided to comply with him until she found a better opening.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She said apprehensively as she looked around in desperation. Immediately he fired a bullet right next to where the children were playing. Both of them looked up from their game confused and frightened.

"Play dumb again, or try anything, and I'll put the next bullet in one of their throats, do you understand me!" He shouted. Lady Ryonia flinched. She was on the verge of tears.

"Whatever you want to know, I'll tell you. Just don't hurt my children, I beg of you."

"I'm sure you will tell me everything you know in due time. But right now, I'm here for what you can give me. I have it on very good authority that the primary server for every Order safe house in the city, possibly the entire province, is in this building. And you are going to give me access." She was silent for a moment.

"I understand." She muttered reluctantly. "Follow me, if you would." The two of them left the bedroom, Lady Ryonia in front and the intruder just behind her with his gun wedged in between her shoulder blades. She led him down the hallway and around the corner to the left, the direction opposite from where the intruder had come from. Eventually they reached an unassuming closet door. She opened it, revealing a small room with a few pairs of shoes in it. She pressed her hand against the far wall and it receded, revealing a hidden staircase that lead down into the floor below.

"After you." The intruder said in a mock courtesy that set Lady Ryonia's teeth on edge. She steeled herself and walked down the staircase, followed shortly by her captor. After a short descent, the two of them stood in a large, brightly lit room filled with rows of drives and databases.

"These storage systems look extremely complex." The intruder whistled, staring at the immense amount of data storage before him.

"According to my company's R&amp;D branch, they're at least a decade more advanced than any commercially available electronic product." Lady Ryonia beamed with a slight sense of pride.

"And to think we invented the internet only ten years ago. Why hasn't your company started selling this level of electronics publicly?"

"Every technological advancement our civilization has produced has swiftly been procured, one way or another, by human trash. Our government's unwillingness to restrict, or at least regulate, trade with human powers means that, until reforms are put in place and crackdowns are made on offshore smuggling, we cannot risk our more efficient and capable designs falling into the hands of people who wish to do our people harm." Lady Ryonia responded.

"Is that just the excuse you give to people to drudge up old conflicts that no one cares about in order to justify your unfounded hatred of humans? Or do you actually believe in the skewed ideological worldview your order was founded on?" He replied. She was about to answer when he spoke again. "Never mind, don't answer. I'm not sure which prospect I find more disheartening and frankly I don't want to find out. Just take me over to the nearest access port." She led him over to one of the database racks and motioned at a slot.

"Can I access the entire database network from here?" He asked.

"I'm no computer expert, but you should be able to." She responded, barely able to keep herself calm and collected whilst talking to a man poking a gun in her back. Suddenly he lowered the gun and took out a thick black rectangular piece of electronic equipment from one of his pockets. He plugged it into the access port, and instantly all of the databases whirred to life.

"What did you do?" She asked frantically, understanding full well that she just committed high treason against the Order.

"What I have just done is of none of your concern. Now I need to know whatever you know about the Order." He holstered his gun.

"I'll tell you whatever I can." Lady Ryonia prepared to steal the gun from the man's holster while she talked.

"Oh you're not going to tell me anything." The intruder smirked. He grabbed both sides of Lady Ryonia's head and closed his eyes. "You're going to show me." She screamed as pain erupted from her brain. Images and memories flashed through her head. She saw her meeting with Kelkaid and the other high members of the Order. It stood out in her memory because Kelkaid had barred Tagyr from attending. They spoke of the excavation progress. Kelkaid showed them a map of the areas currently undergoing searches for artifacts, and the exciting news of finally discovering intact buildings. She began to lose consciousness as the pain became unbearable. She couldn't quite remember what the meeting was about anymore. Or even who was involved.

Lady Ryonia's memories fed themselves into the mind of the intruder. He saw the meeting. A man named Kelkaid. And a map of desert excavation sites. Just as he began searching more information, a gun fired and his connection with Lady Ryonia was severed. He dropped her dead body as blood began pouring out of the back of her head. He saw the bleeding form of the assassin Jeleset standing in the entrance to the server room.

"You said we were mistaken when we assumed you were here to kill Lady Ryonia." She hissed. She lost her footing for a moment, but balance herself again before continuing. "Well you were mistake when you assumed we were here to protect her. I have orders to contain the spread of information, preferably without losing these servers. I didn't kill you to keep them intact. But you used the threat of non-existent explosives to force your way into this room and voided that constraint." She carried in her other hand a detonator. "So thanks to some very real ones, I'm going to ensure you never leave." The intruder instantly grabbed his large electronic device out of the access port and ran for the stairs. She flicked the switch just before falling to the ground unconscious again. He escaped into the stairwell just as the ceiling exploded behind him.

He quickly recovered from the initial blast. Before his ears stopped ringing or the dust settled, he sprinted up the stairs and out the way he had come in, arriving back in the lounge. The explosion had entirely destroyed the floor of most of the lounge, which evidently sat directly on top of the server room. Stepping over the barely conscious body of Nibet, he ran over to meet his partner, who was laying down the unconscious body of X'lish on one of the couches.

"Oh thank goodness I don't have to keep pretending to be the confident yet relatable criminal. I swear I was about to lose my shit." He said as the intruder walked up to him.

"What are you doing, Faldr?" The intruder asked as his partner stood up.

"I thought we weren't going to use our names, Jigafta. I'm supposed to be dead and you're not supposed to exist, remember?" Faldr Milzaek asked.

"You didn't answer my question." Jigafta Utenki crossed his arms disapprovingly.

"What? I was making sure she didn't have a spinal injury or something. I didn't think you'd actually blow up the building."

"Well, that wasn't my fault. One of the guards got a little trigger happy, shot the target, and blew up the servers. I did the best I could with what I had to work with."

"Wait, what? No interrogation and no data? Did we get anything to make this trip not a complete waste of time?"

"Will you stop being so quick to assume the worst? The uplink was in for a solid minute. I'm sure we got plenty of good data. Enough at least to know where to start looking next."

"Somehow that's not reassuring. When does the helicopter get here again?"

"Did you light the flare?" Jigafta raised an eyebrow.

"Oh shoot!" Faldr yelled. He took out a flare from one of his pockets, struck it, and tossed it near the broken window. "Sorry about that."

"It amazes me that you can manage to subdue two highly trained assassins and yet you forget to light the flare to call our ride." Jigafta laughed as the two of them began to scoot their way around the edge of the hole in the ground to get to the broken window.

"Well I'm sorry I'm not a mysterious pseudo-military-assassin-spy person who still won't tell anyone his real name. Remarkably fighting the twins here wasn't that much of a challenge. I gathered from their conversations we listened in on that they weren't very socially experienced, so all it took was to get under their skin and push the right buttons. My façade did slip up a couple of times, but those ended up working to my advantage, so overall things went well."

"I didn't ask for your report on our enemy's ability to act in a social environment, I asked how you managed to fight one of them and survive, much less two."

"Oh, that. My dad taught me how to fight." Faldr commented matter-of-factly as the two of them reached the small ledge next to the broken window.

"Would you care to elaborate?"

"Just as soon as you tell me literally anything about yourself."

"That won't happen."

"I know. Oh look, the chopper's here." Just as Faldr spoke, a helicopter descended from above and parked next to the broken window.

"Need a ride?" Shouted a Bone standing in the chassis of the machine. Just then Izagail, whom the explosion had woken up, jumped down from the elevator shaft after having freed himself. He took in the scene before him, and locked eyes with the men that had knocked him out.

"Where's Nibet?!" He screamed. "If you hurt her I will cut you into a thousand pieces!"

"Time to go." Jigafta resounded offhandedly. He and Faldr jumped of the window and into the interior of the helicopter. Izagail screamed again and drew his gun, firing wildly at them as the helicopter flew off. Jigafta and Faldr meanwhile sat down and caught their breath.

"Jigafta, what the hell happened back there? You were supposed to be discreet." The third Bone in the helicopter asked.

"Nice to see you too, Daniel. Faldr Milzaek, I want you to meet my good friend and supervising agent Daniel Deyavara. He's not so bad once you get to know him."

"So this is the super kid you were telling me about? Nice to meet you." Daniel stretched out his hand towards Faldr.

"Nice to meet you too." Faldr responded, shaking Daniel's hand halfheartedly as the weight of completing his first mission with the FIC was beginning to sink in.

"Anyway enough with the pleasantries. I've already gotten the preliminary results from the data our tech department managed to grab before you yanked the uplink. We've got a long list of names and several locations. One stood out in particular. The military base General Haenkos runs."

"Well, we suspected him of having ties to the Order before. It honestly doesn't surprise me." Jigafta stared out into the distance.

"Well now what's our next move?" Faldr asked as adrenaline still coursed through his veins. Jigafta stood up abruptly. He moved over to Faldr and placed his hand on his shoulder.

"You will work closely with Daniel on following up any leads we managed to find. Especially the one about Haenkos. I have a feeling we'll find more servers there."

"And what will you be doing while I show the kid the ropes?" Daniel asked, hesitant to find out the truth.

"Something's come up. It's a personal matter. I'll have to attend to it right away. You might not see me for another few months." He grabbed a parachute off of an equipment rack on the wall and walked to the edge of the helicopter. "See you when I get back, kid." He jumped out of the helicopter and disappeared from sight.

"Jigafta!" Faldr shouted as he stood up in shock. He turned to Daniel. "We have to circle back for him! He could die!"

"Oh would you relax? He does this all the time. I'm sure he just needs to clear his head. Though usually these only last for a few days." Daniel took a seat and motioned for Faldr to do the same. "We can't find him while he's off doing his thing, so we don't try to. For now, all we can do is work with the information he gave us. Start going down the list and pulling this organization apart at the seams."

Faldr nodded and swallowed reflexively as he looked back to where his mysterious new friend had just disappeared into thin air, and for the first time since he started this adventure he began to seriously question what exactly he had gotten himself into.

* * *

_**The Headquarters of the Order of the Hallow Soul, Downtown Boneville**_

_**October 2498, Twenty-eight Years Ago**_

X'lish's eyes flicked open. Not that it helped much, because all she could see was blinding white light. Still, it was a marked improvement over the explosion that had knocked her out. At least she was fairly sure that was what had happened. What was not so welcome was the dull, oppressive pain that gripped every muscle in her body. It took her eyes a few moments to register that it wasn't seeing a blank white wall, but being blinded by a light on a ceiling. After this realization, her eyes slowly began to come back into focus, and she was able to turn her head slightly. As she observed her surroundings, she realized two things: that she was lying in a hospital bed, and that Nibet, Viprus, and Jeleset were all standing in one corner of the room covered in bandaged wounds and talking quietly.

"Hey look, she's awake." Nibet noted as she looked at her sister over Jeleset's shoulder. The other two turned around and the three of them gathered around X'lish's bed.

"How are you feeling?" Nibet asked.

"Exactly like you would expect after being thrown across a room by an exploding floor." X'lish winced as she sat up. "How's the shoulder holding up?"

"It's fine now. Though it'll take time before I'm back up to one hundred percent."

"It looks like you took one to the shoulder too." X'lish nodded at Jeleset's bandaged shoulder. "Mind filling me in on what happened while I was out?"

"I was stabbed, actually. But thanks for noticing." Jeleset responded coldly.

"About an hour after the break in we were airlifted back to base. You've been unconscious for three days." Viprus interjected. "The four of us were rushed to treatment, but Selthash and Izagail, who were both lucky enough not to suffer any substantial wounds, took off on a mission to try to track down the perpetrators. They haven't reported in yet."

"Wait, you mean the two intruders got away? Did you three at least get Lady Ryonia to safety?" X'lish inquired. Viprus and Nibet quickly looked at the floor.

"No, we did not." Jeleset responded spitefully. "We failed. All of us, especially you, failed. Lady Ryonia is dead." Jeleset turned around, walked out the door, and slammed it behind her.

"Lady Ryonia is dead? I thought the intruder's said that they needed her alive."

"They didn't kill Lady Ryonia." Viprus disclosed. "Jeleset did. Our orders were to protect the integrity of the Order. Normally that would mean protecting our charge, but if our charge were to become a liability we were instructed to kill her. Jeleset claims she saw Lady Ryonia divulge sensitive information to the intruders. She took a calculated risk and plugged the leak."

"That's… I thought we were protectors. A Vanguard, tasked with defending against those that would destroy us. To kill those we are tasked with protecting is just..." X'lish couldn't think of the right word.

"Wrong?" Viprus suggested. "Well, that isn't the only thing wrong with this situation. Two guys in masks broke into that building and practically convinced us to take ourselves out. We should all be dead right now. But they let us live. The guy we fought said that he was trying to prove he wasn't the bad guy. Maybe he was right."

"How can you even say that?" Nibet exclaimed. "We've devoted our lives to the Order. What we do is holy work, for the betterment of our species. Who are you to judge our goals unjust?"

"Who are you to judge them otherwise?" Viprus retorted. "The fact is that we were raised our entire lives to believe that what we were being prepared for was a just cause. But now, seeing our work in reality, I'm not so sure. The intruder said that we were protecting someone when we didn't know what they had done. As it turns out, a significant portion of Lady Ryonia's funds came from less than legal sources. Drug money, best I could tell from the files I broke into."

"I'm sure the Order never sanctioned her illegal activity. Have you brought this up with Kelkaid yet? I'm sure he'd be just as shocked as you are." X'lish tried to defuse the tension building between Viprus and Nibet.

"What if they did sanction her activity? What if Kelkaid wouldn't be shocked? It wouldn't surprise me."

"I'm leaving." Nibet threw her hands into the air and headed for the door. "I can't believe you're entertaining this lunacy." She left the room, and for a minute everything was dead silent.

"Viprus," X'lish began hesitantly. "What would you do if I told you that I might believe you about the Order?"

"I'd tell you to get some rest. And to not go looking for trouble. That'll be my job. Something's going on in this place. I'm going to get to the bottom of it." He turned around and left as well.

Twelve stories above X'lish's room in the infirmary, Kelkaid, Tagyr, and the Order's inner circle sat around a circular table. At everyone's position around the table sat a small monitor displaying a dimly lit cavern. Over the speakers around the room came a low, raspy voice that instilled fear in the hearts of every person in the room.

"I detest these group meetings, Kelkaid. I prefer not to communicate with you through such an ineffective medium as sound waves." The voice reprimanded.

"Of course, master. But I felt that the news of Lady Ryonia's death is a report the entire group should be present for. And since you still do not allow others besides me to speak with you in person, this must be how we conduct this exchange." Kelkaid replied, still hesitant to meet with his master after their meeting four days ago.

"Hope that your answer is truthful, Kelkaid. Because I do not tolerate cowards. Now, what is it that you wished to bring to my attention?"

"An intruder broke into Lady Ryonia's home three days ago. He and an accomplice took out six Vanguards and stole an unknown amount of data from our servers." Tagyr reported. "Then, according to Vanguard Jeleset's description, she was interrogated for information. Jeleset was forced to shot her to prevent a catastrophic intelligence leak."

"And this required a full emergency meeting for what reason, exactly?" Asked the voice.

"We did an autopsy of Lady Ryonia's body. Her medial temporal lobe was in tatters, and her prefrontal cortex had suffered severe damage. The damage patterns were consistent with victims of the… unique ability your kind possesses. This intruder was, without a doubt, your brother the Traitor."

"I had suspected that he was the one meddling with our work in the past, but this now confirms his involvement. We've already stepped up the pace of our excavation, and our latest report indicates that we may have identified the laboratory containing the Successor." Kelkaid maintained. "How do you wish to proceed?" The voice was silent for several moments.

"You failed to stop him this time. It is a feeling you must get used to. He will pursue us like a wolf now that he has information. We must act as if everything Lady Ryonia knew, he knows. Increase security on all of our dig sites as much as possible, and tell all of the cells in the Taebid province to go dark. Lastly you must tell General Haenkos to use every resource at his disposal to locate my brother's accomplices."

"It will be done, master."

"I would also like to converse with you in private about some matters, Kelkaid. Everyone else is dismissed." The rest of the inner circle stood up, bowed at their monitors, and left the room. When Kelkaid was alone, the voice began to speak again.

"Have I ever told you the prophecy I had the last time my brother and I fought?" It asked.

"No. This is the first time I've ever heard of you possessing the ability to prophesy, in fact. Truly you amaze me with your infinite capacity for ability."

"I do not require your praise. And I do not normally possess foresight. Only two beings ever have. My father, and his brother. But when a sufficient amount of energy is present in a location, like was when my brother and I fought, it can sometimes temporarily bend reality. That day, I received a message from my father from the future. It was only a few seconds long, but it was a potent warning of things to come. Would you like to hear it?"

"I would be honored to receive the words of the Crystal Lord."

"A giant stands tall, Ven's legacy razed. The fires of extinction are readily blazed. The shadows of wrath pierce the world. The Successor's mind is forever unfurled. Power ignited awakens the hoard. From the ashes rises the Crystal Lord."

"Forgive my brashness, but what does it mean? Are we abandoning that plan to raise a Successor?"

"No, it means that our plan does not stop with securing the Successor. We must then utilize him to release the Crystal Lord."

"Do you know how?"

"I have had almost a thousand years to prepare for this. And I've spent all of it planning for the day my father is free. But to do that we must first find the Successor. I just want you to have a clear idea of our end goal."

"Yes, master. I shall visit the dig site personally to ensure a steady increase in excavation." Kelkaid bowed and left the room to fulfill his master's plan. His master, meanwhile, relished in his thoughts alone. His solitude was brief.

"The last time we saw each other, you and that failure tore apart everything our father worked toward." Another voice filled the cavern. This one was higher in pitch, more feminine, but was still spoken with the same rasp. "So imagine my surprise when I find that after three thousand years you have finally had a change of heart."

"Sister." The Grand Lord replied. "It has been too long. I see that you are equally as formless as I am. Tell me how exactly did you manage to free yourself? And why did you come here of all places?"

"The situation in the Valley is destabilizing. The House of Mists is on the move. Every day their armies grow stronger and they test the limits of their power. The despair of the people fed me enough to free my consciousness, though not my body. I projected to your location to gain your assistance in tipping the scales enough to free father. Now it is your turn to answer my questions: why do you now help our cause, and why have you been reduced to such a state?"

"I saw what leaving father's guidance did to these people, and regretted my decision to lead them from their creator's side. The traitor disagreed, and we fought. He beat me, and now my body recuperates elsewhere. In my clash with the Traitor I was given a vision from father. Now I work to see that vision come true. And you can help."

"What would you have me do?"

"You can do nothing here as a mere presence. But you can further our goals in the Valley."

"What requires doing in the Valley? Soon Atheia will burn and we will have vengeance."

"And what will that accomplish? You know it requires two to break the Locust's seal, and that is a luxury we don't have. Yet. Keep Atheia from burning entirely. In time I will send you an omen which shall foretell the coming of the Successor. Then and only then will you make your move. Free the Locust, and the Nacht's veil shall tear away. Between the two of them, there should be enough energy to prime father for release. Then I shall return to strike the final blow."

"Your plan seems… fragile. What guarantees can you make that the Traitor does not stop you from sending the omen?"

"I have had a thousand years to plan. I have contingencies in place should the Traitor interfere. And your arrival has moved my timetable up astronomically. Not even Mon'Yaran can stop what is to come. Now go. Play your part."

"I will. But I have one more question. What will be the nature of this omen you will send to me?"

"It will be a symbol from this world. Something large. You will know it when you see it."

"I suppose I will have to be satisfied with that answer. Until we meet again, brother." The Grand Lord felt her presence leave. He laughed. This development was more than he could have dreamed of. Now, his success was guaranteed. It was just a matter of time.


	22. Chapter 19: A Giant Stands Tall

Author's Note: As of June 27th, 2016, the entire fanfic has been rewritten. That means this chapter, all that came before it, and all that follow it now contain different content that they did previously. You are strongly encouraged to go back and reread the entire fanfic from the beginning, as the revised continuity may confuse you if you jump in part of the way through.

* * *

The sounds of battle, gunshots and screams floated through the air as X'lish stepped through the gate in front of her. She looked up at the sky, at the blood-red harvest moon that sagged overhead and the starless black canvas it was suspended in. She looked around her at the smoke billowing up from the fires scattered around the city. And she looked ahead of her into the eyes of her sister, at the same cold, empty stare Kelkaid Nagratek and his ideals had beaten into them almost thirty years ago.

X'lish drew her sword from the scabbard on her back as she emerged from the other side of the gate. Her sister did the same. The two of them stood on opposite sides of the courtyard, still and silent. Nibet moved first, walking toward her sister slowly, methodically. X'lish did the same. Eventually, they both stood in the middle of the courtyard, just a few feet from each other. X'lish spoke first.

"So I guess it would be too much to hope that you come to your senses?"

"I'm not here to talk. I'm here to kill you without remorse. So raise your sword." Nibet stepped back and outstretched her arms, pointing the blade at her sister.

"You may not be here to talk, but I am and I will." X'lish mirrored Nibet's movements. "I hope that won't be a problem."

"You won't be talking for long." Nibet lowered her sword abruptly and thrust it at her sister's stomach. X'lish countered the attack by striking it to the ground with her own sword. While she had her sister pinned, X'lish slammed her elbow into her sister's chest and, releasing her pin on her sister's sword, swung her own into the air and down on top of Nibet's head. Nibet dodged to the side and swiped her sword at X'lish's legs. Her sister jumped up over the swing and tried another overhead strike as she came down. Crouching on the ground, Nibet lifted her sword up and blocked X'lish's attack head on. As her feet touched the ground, X'lish pushed herself backward and out of Nibet's sword range. The two of them were back where they were at the start of the fight.

"You can do better than that, can't you sis?" X'lish remarked as they both calculated their next moves. "Don't tell me all of those years apart dulled your skills. Or perhaps you just don't have what it takes to kill me?"

"It isn't that. I just didn't expect prey to struggle to this degree. Don't mistake a miscalculation for a lack of intent." Nibet retorted as she stepped forward to deliver another series of strikes.

"I thought you said you weren't here to talk. Make up your mind." X'lish readied her sword as the first strike came at her side. She blocked it, and almost immediately another came at her from her other side, which she blocked as well. Nibet swung her sword violently and in quick succession in this manner for several dozen swings, forcing X'lish to the mouth of the gate she had entered through. When she was almost through, she ducked underneath one of the strikes and swept Nibet off of her feet with a roundhouse kick. Before Nibet could recover, X'lish stood back up and trust her sword at Nibet's ribcage. Nibet rolled to the side as X'lish's sword imbedded itself into the ground.

X'lish struggled for a moment to pull her sword out of the ground, and in that time Nibet got back on her feet and slashed at X'lish horizontally. X'lish managed to recover her sword just in time to block the attack. She realized that she had blocked it reflexively, without ever knowing that the strike was coming. Her sister had been using moves from an old sparing routine they developed when they were kids. X'lish smiled to herself, which put Nibet on edge. She moved back and reevaluated her position while X'lish began to chuckle.

"I don't understand what part about this you find funny." Nibet tensed up, expecting an attack at any moment.

"I'm sorry, it's just... Never mind. Let's have another go, shall we?" X'lish charged in head first, catching her sister off guard. Nibet tried to strike at her side, but X'lish effortlessly blocked the attack. She continued forward, pushing Nibet back as she powered through her defenses. X'lish could predict from her sister's smallest movements where she was going to lash out from next, and automatically moved to block.

"I thought you said that you intended to kill me?" X'lish asked as she forced her sister in circles around the courtyard with a flurry of strikes and parries.

"I did. I do. Concentrate on the fight. When you lose, I don't want you to blame our conversation."

"I'm not distracted. Quite the opposite, actually. I'm as focused as I can be. You, on the other hand, seem to have something on your mind. Feel like spitting it out?"

"Well…" Nibet thought as she dodged one of X'lish's swings and retaliated with her own. "It does bother me how little anger you've shown during our fight. I expected you to be pissed as hell that I killed your husband."

"I was angry. Then I was bitter. But I've had two months to think, and I decided that instead of hating you for what you did, I'd just kill you instead. And then you were on our side again, and I didn't take that very well. I'm almost relieved you're trying to kill us again. But I'm also a bit disappointed. I thought you'd put up more of a fight than this."

"I don't know what you mean." Nibet commented offhandedly as she barely managed to block X'lish's blade from plunging into her ribcage.

"You're barely holding out. Something's holding you back. Are you sure you're trying your hardest to kill me?"

"I could say the same to you. Here I am trying to kill you without remorse, and you want to have a casual chat like we're fifteen." Suddenly, as Nibet took a step forward to begin a counterattack, her footing slipped and she stumbled backward. She raised her sword to defend against X'lish's impending killing blow, but it never came. Confused, Nibet regained her footing and saw her sister just standing where she was with her guard down.

"What're you doing?" Nibet asked as she readied herself for another onslaught of attacks.

"Are you okay?" X'lish responded. "What happened?" She looked genuinely concerned.

"My foot slipped. Why do you care? You should've tried to take me out. This is a fight to the death, remember?" X'lish laughed.

"This isn't a fight to the death. It's a sub-par sparring match at best. You haven't even remotely tried to hurt me yet, much less kill me, and all of the moves you've been using are from our warm-up routine from back at Ivory Crest. And on top of that, you lost your footing on solid ground. This isn't like you. Something's up."

"You're right." Nibet said as she smiled to herself. "For some reason, I've been hesitating. Thank you for reminding me of the contempt I hold for people like you who show compassion for their enemy." Nibet's stance changed. She became more confident. "Now this fight starts for real." Nibet and X'lish charged each other, unleashing a staggering high-speed display of swordsmanship.

"So what was that remark about me showing compassion supposed to imply, exactly?" X'lish asked as she struggled to keep up with her sister's renewed vigor.

"You developed an aversion to combat ever since your exile. We swore to make the world a better place using our talents."

"And we did. We took down the Order and put Kelkaid down like a dog."

"And then you spent the next two decades on a beach growing old and complicit, while I spent them upholding a promise we made over our friend's corpse." Their blades clashed and they stood with their faces inches away from each other.

"And helping Kelkaid's son kill massive amounts of people constitutes honoring Viprus's memory to you?" For a moment, Nibet forgot why she was trying to kill her sister. X'lish used that moment to push her back and attempt a killing strike.

"Glaian is not the person his father was. He's not a murderer. He's a visionary." Nibet resumed their conversation as she resumed her defense, meeting X'lish's attack with full force.

"Now I know Glaian's messed with your head. We left the Order because they turned us into common thugs. What makes his crusade so different?"

"He's different because he doesn't have a separate agenda. The Order used us to their own personal ends, but Glaian has been completely honest about his goals from day one. He's the first person in my life to do that, including you." Nibet's comment caused X'lish to hesitate for a moment, and in that time Nibet swept her feet out from under her and knocked her sword away.

"It's over." Nibet smirked. She placed her blade on her sister's throat and looked her in the eye. She was meet with a look of intense defiance, which surprised her. "I thought you'd be the least bit afraid of death, after having avoided it this long."

"I won't die here. If you were going to kill me, I'd be dead already. But you won't. I can see it on your eyes."

"I will kill you without remorse." Nibet reiterated. She tried to move her hand to finish the job, but she couldn't.

"You've said that a lot in the past few minutes. Who are you trying to convince, exactly? Me? Or yourself." X'lish began to stand up, and instead of killing her, Nibet moved her sword away. X'lish stood up and looked her sister in the eye.

"I will kill you without remorse." Nibet repeated, trying desperately to move her arm, to no avail.

"No you won't. Because you don't want to. Glaian did something to you. Otherwise you would have never said any of those things. He's gotten into your head somehow. You need to push him out."

"I will kill you without remorse!" Nibet shouted, dropping her sword and clutching her head in her hands.

"Come back to me, sis." X'lish placed her hands on Nibet's shoulders. "I know you're in there somewhere."

"I will kill you without remorse." Nibet began to cry. She pulled a sidearm from her belt and placed it against X'lish's head. "I will accomplish my mission." Her hand shook.

"Then do it. But if any part of my sister is still in there, you will fight this. It isn't like you to give up so easily." X'lish closed her eyes. "Do what you have to do." She whispered. Nibet screamed. And emptied her magazine.

But not at her sister. She turned around and shot at nothing. Then she threw the gun away and sank to the ground. X'lish opened her eyes, mildly surprised to still be alive. She sat down next to her sister.

"I don't suppose now would be a good time to apologize for killing Faldr?" Nibet asked sheepishly.

"We'll deal with that later. For now, I'm just glad to have my sister back." X'lish responded.

"Well, I wouldn't get too used to the feeling." A male Bone stepped out from around a corner with a sniper rifle aimed at Nibet's head. "I still have business to work out with her."

"Selthash." Nibet scowled. She stood up to meet the brash man's challenge.

"Selthash? You're alive?" X'lish asked, more than a little caught off guard. "What happened to you?" She pointed at all of the burned tissue on his body

"Hello X'lish. Your sister gave me these, actually. Kind of like a goodbye kiss. A very hot, very scarring goodbye kiss."

"This'll only take a second." Nibet said as she bent down and picked up her discarded sword. "Then we can go join the others."

"So you'd like a swordfight then? That suits me fine." Selthash drew his own sword form a scabbard on his back. "I've been training years for this moment. I can taste revenge now." He readied himself to begin attacking. Nibet slowly approached him with her sword outstretched, and he instinctively backed away from her.

"You've always been more talk than action, Selthash. It used to be endearing. Now it's just pathetic. I don't know whether it was love or wishful thinking that moved me to spare you twenty-five years ago. But I can assure you I will not make the same mistake twice."

"That makes two of us." He gulped as he prepared to fend off her attacks. Before he could react, however, she ran her sword clean through his neck. When she withdrew her blade, he collapsed to the ground dead, his eyes still wide with surprise. Nibet bent down to collect her empty sidearm as X'lish stood up and picked her sword off of the ground.

"Do you think there's any blood on this? I absolutely hate getting rodent blood on my gear." Nibet asked her sister as she inspected her sword.

"I'm sure it's fine." X'lish replied as she sheathed her sword. "Now come on, we have to get to the temple."

"Right." Nibet recalled her plan as she too returned her sword to its scabbard. "It's this way. Follow me." Nibet motioned down an alleyway and the two of them took off running.

"So how much of what you said during our fight was true?" X'lish asked as they weaved through the Atheian streets.

"Honestly, I'm not entirely sure. At the time, it felt as though everything I said was what I wanted to say. But looking back, I'm fairly certain Glaian made me think those things."

"Not entirely certain?"

"Most of my memories from my time spent in Glaian's stronghold are hazy at best, so I couldn't tell you what he made me think. Or say. And after you spend a lot of time like I did, your own thoughts become hard to distinguish. But I should be fine now."

"That doesn't exactly leave me brimming with confidence."

"Well do you at least trust that I'm myself again?"

"For now, yes." They continued to run in silence after that.

"For what it's worth, I really am genuinely sorry I killed Faldr. I didn't want to, but Glaian-"

"Let's just get through this first. You can apologize all you want after we put an end to… What is it he calls himself these days? The All-Consuming?"

"I think he actually switched to Lord High Devourer."

"Talk about melodramatic." X'lish rolled her eyes.

"I know. The temple's just this way." The two of them emerged from an alleyway near the temple entrance just as Phoney, Fone, Thorn, Bartleby, and three humans approached it from the front.

"I figured you'd show up sooner or later." Phoney remarked as X'lish and her sister met Phoney's group in front of the temple.S

. "To be honest, I was expecting it would be later."

"X'lish, good to see you. And who might this be?" Thorn asked, nodding at Nibet.

"That's my sister, Nibet. She's on our side now. Again." X'lish said. "Nibet, these are the others."

"Mr. President." Nibet saluted Phoney, who saluted back. She turned to Fone. "You're Fone Bone right? I read your book. It was pretty good."

"Thanks. X'lish has told us a lot about you." Fone responded. "I'm looking forward to you not trying to kill us.

"Likewise. And you must be Thorn Harvester." Nibet turned back to Thorn. "Sorry about the mess."

"It's fine. But what's with the constantly swapping allegiance?" Thorn asked.

"I'm glad to finally meet someone who likes to get to the point. I like you already." Nibet laughed. No one else did. "Right. I had my memories stolen by a small crystal Glaian planted in my tooth. Julius Freeman took it out a day or two ago."

"Julius Freeman?" Phoney asked, puzzled. "I saw Archibald shoot him in the head. We brought his body out of the city with us along with Smiley's. I interred it in a morgue myself."

"He said he snuck away from the meeting. Maybe he had a body double in place? Who knows. The point is he rescued me from Glaian's control and is currently somewhere in the city. He should meet us here soon enough. Anyway, apparently Glaian set up a failsafe system of mental triggers in case I went rogue. He activated them, but I managed to get out from under his control again. You don't have to trust me, but I am here to help." Thorn, Fone, and Phoney mulled the information over for a moment in silence.

"Fine." Phoney said, speaking for the group. "We'll trust you for now. But if you do anything I don't like, we break your legs."

"Fair enough. Now what was your-" Nibet was about to start talking strategy when a group of about forty humans charged down from another street to meet the group. Leading them was Gran'ma Ben. Thorn ran up to her and hugged her.

"Gran'ma Ben? What are you doing here? I thought you were busy drawing the enemy away?" Thorn asked as they released their embrace.

"Nice to see you too Thorn." She turned to address everyone. "There's a large force of Glaian's men moving this way. Jigafta and the Great Red Dragon stayed behind to hold most of them off, but some of them will get through to here. We'll hold them off here while you deal with Glaian."

"Are you sure that's wise, Gran'ma? Glaian's men have far superior weaponry."

"We've been holding our own this whole time. We can handle a few more minutes. Besides, these little squirts aren't so tough when they don't have the element of surprise. We'll be fine. Just go."

"If you're sure." Phoney shrugged and turned to his group. He pointed to his three human guards. "You three stay here and bolster Queen Rose's forces." They nodded and Gran'ma Ben directed them into one of the buildings around the area to set up an ambush. "The rest of us will go put Glaian in the ground."

"Are you sure it'd be a good idea for you two to come along?" Nibet asked, pointing at Fone and Phoney. "I don't doubt Thorn's training, but a politician and a writer don't exactly qualify as combatants."

"Nibet, this is hardly the first war we've fought in, and Glaian will most definitely not be the first person either of us have killed. We can handle ourselves."

"If you say so." Nibet dropped the subject. The six of them lined up in front of the temple doors.

"Here I come you bastard." Phoney muttered as he pushed the large door open. The six of them walked through the threshold. In front of them, Glaian sat on the altar, brooding. The rest of the hall was empty. He looked up and locked eyes with Phoney. The six of them tensed up. The door closed behind them. Glaian stood from his perch and smiled.

* * *

"Caydmar!" Rankyne shouted at the top of his lungs as he pulled himself closer to the neck of the dragon he was riding, trying to protect himself from the sheering winds produced when flying on the back of a dragon several hundred feet in the air at several hundred miles per hour. "I think I'm going to be sick!"

"Are you kidding me?" His brother asked. Caydmar was sitting up behind Rankyne, arms outstretched, letting the sensations of flying roll over his body like a tidal wave. "This is incredible! I wish I could spend the rest of my life in the air!"

"Speak for yourself!" Rankyne responded, his face growing paler by the second. "If we live through this, I'm never leaving the ground again!"

"Please don't throw up on my scales." The dragon carrying the brothers requested drearily. "It takes forever to remove the stench."

"Just hold on!" Caydmar shouted, trying to keep his brother calm. "I think I can see Sinner's Rock from here!" The lonely spire of Sinner's Rock rose into view on the horizon. Ahead of them, the rest of the Sky Legion had already arrived at the target. Dragons flew through the air scorching the panicking soldiers on the ground. By the time Caydmar and Rankyne's dragon landed, the only things on the surface were charred corpses and scattered crates of weapons. Rankyne flopped off the dragon's back ungracefully and reveled in stable ground. His bag of explosive flopped off after him.

"I'm never flying again. Ever." He exclaimed as he began to stand up and steady himself.

"I don't see what you have against everything new we keep discovering." Caydmar grabbed his satchel of explosives and dismounted the dragon with ease, landing on his feet beside his recovering twin. "It isn't so bad once you get used to it."

"It's getting used to it that I take issue with. Namely: surviving the experience."

"Oh will you two just get moving already?" Breshet interrupted as she and the rest of the Sky Legion began to take off again. "We're already behind as it is. I'll be back to pick you up after you do your job." With that the Sky Legion flew into the air and descended upon the city to wreak havoc.

"And there goes our backup." Rankyne muttered as he picked up his satchel and began walking miserably to the tunnel entrance. "I'll check the tunnels. You get started with the crates out here."

"That won't be necessary." A low feline voice growled behind the princes. They whirled around with their guns drawn. Roque Ja's slightly quizzical features loomed above them.

"Rock Jaw I presume." Caydmar glared at the imposing mountain lion staring down their weapons unintimidated.

"It's pronounced Roque Ja, I'll have you know." He stuck his head in the air to flaunt his regal features. "And I'd be more than happy to clear the tunnels while the two of you get to work out here."

"Much appreciated, I guess." Rankyne hesitantly put his gun back in its holster.

"Is there something you'd like to say?" The gargantuan cat asked with a tilt of his head.

"It's nothing… Well… I just never expected you'd be so cooperative is all."

"Believe me, neither did I. But what choice do I have, exactly? The entire valley is on the verge of extinction, and I'm just as much of a target of this madman's wrath as you are." The cat proceeded into the tunnel. "Now get to work. The quicker we get done here, the quicker I can get the rest of you trespassers out of my pristine mountains." He disappeared into the passageway. Not long after, the sound of gunshots and screams drifted back out. Meanwhile, Caydmar and Rankyne began planting the explosives on the crates.

"We should be clear in here now!" Roque Ja shouted at them through the tunnel. Rankyne finished arming his third explosive and began to head for the passageway. Caydmar, who had just finished rigging his sixth crate, stopped him.

"I'll go." He assured his brother. "I'm faster than you at this. I'll be back out before you know it."

"Sure thing. Just don't get lost in there." Rankyne nodded back as he moved on to another crate.

"Did you forget that you're talking to the grand champion of the village hide-and-seek matches? I'll be fine." Caydmar waived his hand dismissively at his brother as he proceeded through the entrance. He was only gone for a few seconds when Rankyne's earpiece jumped to life, making him jump as well.

"Rankyne… Walking… Trap..." The transmission cut in and out, and was filled with static. But that didn't stop him from getting the message.

"Caydmar, get out of there!" He shouted, dropping what he was doing as he ran for the secret passage. "It's a-" His shouting was cut short by Caydmar's pained screams, followed by several gunshots. A moment later Caydmar burst through the tunnel clutching several large gashes that ran along his chest and right forearm and collapsed on the ground. Roque Ja leapt through the passage after his prey, landing right in between Rankyne and Caydmar's unconscious body.

Rankyne raised his gun, aimed it at Roque Ja's face, and without hesitation pulled the trigger. The bullet narrowly missed Roque Ja's eye. He fired again, but Roque Ja had already pounced. Rankyne managed to dive out of the way of the mountain lion's claws and quickly scurried behind a rock outcropping out of the lion's line of sight.

"I can still smell you, boy." Roque Ja mused as he prowled slowly around, searching for his quarry. "You cannot hide from me. And even if you manage to get away, what chance do you think your dear beloved brother has?" Rankyne popped out of cover and shot a round into Roque Ja's front paw. Before Roque Ja could react, however, he was gone.

"I must commend you for surviving this long against me in a fight." The large feline began to grow impatient. "Not many have. But your time is up." Roque Ja lashed out with his claws at a protrusion of rock. He clipped the side of Rankyne's face. Rankyne in turn put a bullet in Roque Ja's eye before bolting for another hiding spot. Roque Ja howled in pain. He lashed out blindly in multiple directions before he regained his composure.

"Perhaps you'd like me to go ahead and kill him now then?" He said as he approached Caydmar's body in a bid to lure out his prey. "I am under orders to cause you to despair. I would imagine watching me feast on his flesh would be enough to do the job." Rankyne burst out of hiding and sent several shots into Roque Ja's body. The great cat recoiled as Rankyne continually sent bullets tearing through his hide. Then Rankyne ran out of ammo.

Roque Ja regained his footing as Rankyne fumbled to exchange the magazines. Before he ejected the empty one, however, Roque Ja was upon him. Roque Ja knocked Rankyne to the ground, but left him unharmed. Then he sauntered over to Caydmar and prepared to dig into his meal. Rankyne could barely move. He watched Roque Ja descend upon his brother. He watched the animal's jaws open wide to take the first of many grisly bites. For the first time in his life, Rankyne prayed to the Dreaming. He pleaded for it to spare his brother such a horrible fate.

Then something welled up inside him. He felt energy and vigor course through his veins, and he stood up, renewed and ready to face any challenge. Roque Ja was about to feast when he noticed Rankyne's continued resilience. He chuckled to himself and backed off from Caydmar's unconscious body.

"So you still have some fight left, do you?" He prepared to pounce on the defiant youth. And then, as if out of nowhere, a chill went up Roque Ja's spine. Rankyne scared him. He growled a low growl and began to back up. Rankyne ran forward and punched Roque Ja square on his nose before the hulking beast could react. The blow sent both of them reeling backward, and Roque Ja knew instantly what the prince was.

"You're a Veni-Yan-Cari, aren't you?" He asked, mildly surprised. He began muttering to himself. "That does make sense in hindsight. Lord Deyavara did need energy, and the amount a newly awakened Veni-Yan-Cari could contribute would be extraordinary." Roque Ja steeled himself and charged forward at the young prince. He lashed out with his massive claws. Rankyne caught one and slammed it into the ground. At the same time, he punched the other set of claws from below with enough force to break all of the bones in Roque Ja's paw. Rankyne then grabbed Roque Ja's head with both of his hands and raised it up into the air with intent to slam it into the rock. Roque Ja snarled and pounced, carrying Rankyne with him. He threw Rankyne off with a shake of his head while they were in the air. They both landed in the same spot, and Roque Ja pinned Rankyne's torso with his good hand before the prince could recover.

"I changed my mind." Roque Ja roared as he licked his lips. "I'm going to eat you first. I want to see the light go out of your eyes as you realize no one will save you." He opened his jaws, displaying an impressive array of teeth. Rankyne tried to move, but he couldn't get any leverage. Right as Roque Ja was about to begin eating, he was interrupted for a second time. He heard the hammer of a gun pull back. He looked to his left. Aiming right at his eye with an almost fully loaded handgun stood Caydmar, barely conscious and still losing copious amounts of blood. The two of them locked eyes. The fire behind Caydmar's eyes was the last thing Roque Ja ever saw.

Caydmar fired a single shot into Roque Ja's eye. It cut through his skull and pierced his soft brain matter. Roque Ja recoiled, and Caydmar put another bullet in the feline's forehead. And another. And another. Finally the colossal beast crumpled on the ground dead. Caydmar put another bullet in the side of the animal's head for good measure. Then he collapsed as well.

Rankyne pushed Roque Ja's limp limb off of his body and ran to his brother. Caydmar was fading in and out of consciousness. Rankyne grabbed Caydmar's hand.

"You're going to be alright. You just need to stay with me. You got that?" Rankyne looked around frantically for something to stop the bleeding with. Caydmar offered Rankyne his satchel.

"I'll be alright once you fire off the signal." Caydmar whispered through fits of coughing up blood. "And get us the hell out of here." Rankyne instantly reaching into the bag and pulled out the emergency flare gun. He fired it into the air and returned to his brother's side. He tried, with little success, to keep pressure on Caydmar's extensive wounds. Caydmar's face was rapidly turning pale. Rankyne was beginning to panic.

"You are getting out of here alive. Breshet is going to come and get us real soon." He spoke hurriedly, as though the speed of his speech affected Breshet's travel time. Caydmar ignored his brother and reaching into the discarded satchel. He pulled out the detonator for the explosives. Then he kicked the satchel through the entrance to the tunnel.

"You need to get out of here. Go give Glaian's army hell, and then go take back our home. Do you understand me?" He asked, his voice calmer than his brother's.

"We can do that together. You said it yourself, you're going to be fine." Rankyne looked over his shoulder, expecting to see Breshet burst over the ledge and rescue them. Miraculously, she did. "Look!" He shouted. "Here she is! We can go!" Rankyne began to lift his brother, but Caydmar pushed him back.

"I said I'd make it to keep you calm enough to fire off the flare. I lied. There's no chance I'm going to make it, these wounds are too extensive. I'll be unconscious again before long, and then shortly after that I'll be dead. But I'm not going out like that. I'm going out on my own terms." Rankyne stood up, unable to accept what he heard. His brother continued. "But you need to get out of here before I can make that happen. So go." Rankyne wouldn't move. Caydmar leaned to the side and shouted at Breshet.

"Take him and get out of here! There's no time!" As soon as he spoke, his body began to shudder violently. He coughed up another wave of blood, and his vision blurred. Breshet nodded and walked over to Rankyne. She dipped her wing underneath him and swept him off of his feet. He landed on her wing, and from there she rolled him onto her back. He tried to get up and return to his brother, but before he could she began flying. He was forced to grab onto her to stay alive. He tried screaming, but he couldn't form the words. Caydmar smiled at him as Breshet began to fly back to the city. Then Caydmar pressed the button on the detonator, and he was engulfed in a sea of flames. Sinner's Rock collapsed. Rankyne began to cry.

Breshet landed in the courtyard in front of the temple. Gathered in it were forty or so Venu monks standing over a field of bone corpses. Gran'ma Ben stood in the middle of them. As Breshet descended, they moved to the side and let Gran'ma Ben approach her alone.

"Queen Rose, my name is Breshet. I would like you to take this man off of my hands now. I have to get back to my Legion." She rolled Rankyne's unresponsive body off of her back and onto the ground. After she was sure he was clear, she took off into the sky again. Gran'ma Ben sat Rankyne against the temple wall to see if he was alright.

"Rankyne, can you hear me?" She asked. He didn't respond. "Where's your brother?" He was silent for a moment.

"Dead. Roque Ja killed him." He muttered. Gran'ma Ben lowered her eyes.

"I'm sorry." She whispered.

"You know what's funny? Roque Ja said he wanted to cause me despair. He said that because I am apparently a Veni-Yan-Cari, his mission was to make me despair. Well I guess he succeeded." Gran'ma Ben chose not to ask about Rankyne being a Veni-Yan-Cari, but she remembered all the same. Rankyne continued talking. "And then my brother starts telling me to make Glaian pay. And then he blows himself up. Now what am I supposed to do?"

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say put one between Glaian's eyes." A Bone walked up to the pair. He stretched out his hand. "Hello. My name is Julius Freeman. I orchestrated this counter attack." Neither of them returned his gesture.

"I assume you want to give Glaian his comeuppance, for your brother's sake? Well I say we go do that right now. What do you say?" Rankyne stood up. Gran'ma Ben rose to her feet as well. "I'll take that as a yes."

Meanwhile, Breshet flew across the city to the southern gate, where the fiercest battle was raging. The Great Red Dragon tore through ranks of troops on the ground whilst the Sky Legion flew above the clash attacking snipers on the walls and scorching large enemy clusters. And in the middle of everything, Jigafta leapt around like a madman from area to area. Literally. He was bouncing several dozen feet into the air at times. He shredded large swaths of enemy positions using only his bare hands, and managed to dodge or hit back every bullet they sent his way in response. As he was finishing attacking one group, Breshet descended from the sky and landed next to him.

"This is quite something, isn't it? It almost reminds me of our adventures back in the day." She began making small talk as he finished off the last few soldiers.

"This is much tamer than anything we used to do. For starters, these guys die so easily. It's almost upsetting how little effort this has taken." He ripped a man's arm off and threw it straight through another one's chest, liquefying everything involved. "But anyway, how are things on your end doing?"

"They could be going better. We lost Caydmar."

"How's Rankyne?"

"He lost it, so I dropped him off with Queen Rose. He should be fine. More reinforcements arrived shortly after I left, so he's in good hands." Jigafta stopped right as he was about to kill the last of the men in the vicinity.

"What do you mean reinforcements?" He asked. His tone set Breshet on edge.

"Another Bone showed up just as I was leaving. I thought everyone was going to kill him, but they just stood aside, so I just assumed he was a friend." She began to grow concerned.

"That wasn't a friend. That was him." Jigafta began walking toward the temple.

"What do you mean him? Him who?" Breshet asked. In the back of her mind, she already knew the answer.

"Deyavara." Jigafta said as he prepared to jump. "I want you to get to the Cipher and take it to the Councilman's prison. If I'm late, even by a little, the Councilman could wake. If he does, hit him fast and hard. We'll only get one shot before he fully regains power." Jigafta launched himself into the air and toward his final confrontation with his brother. Breshet took to the sky and flew off for the Cipher. Jigafta couldn't afford to be late, but neither could she.

* * *

"Ah, Phoncible. You've come to face me again at last. Have you finally resigned yourself to your fate? Have you finally seen the error of your ways?" Glaian began to walk the expanse that separated him from the group.

"I knew you were a psychopath. But to think that after everything you've done, I'd just lay down and give up? Admit defeat? You must be crazier than I thought. I'm here to kill you, you mad bastard." Phoney replied, his rage barely contained behind his smirk. Glaian stopped.

"You cannot kill me, Phoncible, for one simple reason. You do not hate me. You fear me. You may blame me for your cousin's death, but that hatred is far overshadowed by what you know I am capable of."

"Fear you? That's a laugh." Phoney began to walk forward defiantly. "Look around you. Everything you've accomplished has been reduced to ashes. Your army is overrun. Your most trusted soldier has betrayed you. And you stand alone, inside a monument to everything you hate built by the very people you have sworn vengeance upon. You have failed."

"Honestly I envy your unquenchable sense of optimism, Phoncible. It is such a shame that it stems from your naiveté. You've marched all of your forces into a single location without knowing the extent of the enemy's fighting strength, and you call my army overrun. You've played your entire hand, while I've yet to show a single card, and you interpret my patience as failure. I have not failed. And I'm sure the young Pawan Princes would agree with me. That is, if Roque Ja hasn't ripped out their throats already." Phoney stopped dead in his tracks. He frantically raised his hand up to the side of his ear and pressed the button on the side of the small communication device planted in his ear-hole.

"Sybron, can you hear me?" He asked.

"Loud and clear, and a bit baffled that this 'radio' really works like you said it would." Sybron responded.

"Sybron I need you to contact Caydmar and Rankyne. Tell them they're walking into a trap."

"Will d-" Sybron's broadcast cut off.

"I'm afraid it's of no use, Phoncible." Glaian chuckled as he resumed his gait. "My military grade radio frequency jammers just activated. Your friend won't be alerting anyone of anything."

"Maybe not. But I'm confident that two armed humans and half a dozen flying dragons can take on a talking cat." Phoney motioned for the rest of the group to move forward. "And that the six of us will be more than enough to kill you." Glaian began to clap as he slowed his pace. He stood in the exact middle of the temple.

"It appears I must retract my previous statement. You truly do not fear me. I'll have to change that. Consider this the first card in my hand." Glaian stopped and moved one of his feet back. Suddenly, with impossible force, he leapt into the air over a dozen feet in an arc straight toward Phoney. As he began his descent, he attempted to put his fist through Phoney's head. Nibet and X'lish crossed their swords in his path, and his fist impacted against the steel inches from Phoney's face. Phoney didn't flinch. Glaian pushed off of the swords and sent himself backward out of their range before they could react. Thorn stared at him awestruck.

"Those were Veni-Yan-Cari abilities." She said aloud to herself. Glaian scoffed.

"Ah yes, the ancient order of monks dedicated to protecting the Dreaming. If only they knew what I know, they would not be so quick to leap to his defense." That word took Thorn by surprise. The Dreaming wasn't a person, of that she was sure. He continued regardless. "I took some time to read up on the Valley after I conquered this city. Between the ancient tomes I found and what was left of my father's archives, I know much of the secret history of this place. Your pitiful monks only scratched the surface of what a Dreaming eye could accomplish. There are beings more ancient and nightmarish than you would believe that are the epitome of the abilities you so crave. And I've been given one's physiological traits. None of you are a match for me." He boasted as he unconsciously nursed the hand he had punched the swords with. Both Nibet and X'lish noticed. He was in excruciating pain, caused by overexertion. He couldn't keep going forever.

"We'll just have to find out then, won't we? Kill him." Phoney ordered his twin assassins. They happily obliged, walking forward side by side, perfectly in sync. They began to circle around him, eyeing up their prey for weaknesses as he continued to talk incessantly.

"You know, my father often praised you two as the best and brightest of his Vanguard. Every night I would be put to bed with tales of the bravery of Nibet and X'lish Trenya, stalwart defenders of the faithful. That is, until you betrayed him. So I've been thinking: if I beat you two, my father's sharpest weapons, his steadfast guardians, will I in turn be my father's greatest creation?"

"You talk too much. I guess you take after your father in that regard." X'lish commented as the pair began to close in on him.

"I'm nothing like my father." He retorted. "I achieve results."

"I think that might be the first thing you've said ever that made any sense." X'lish raised her sword. Her sister did the same.

"Enough of this pointless prattle." Nibet reprimanded her sister. They tossed their swords into the air. "We've got a target." They both jumped up. "Launch!" Nibet shouted as the swords descended. At the same time, both of the sisters kicked the handles of their swords, sending Nibet's at Glaian's head and X'lish's toward his ribcage.

He put up his hands in a flash at the last second and caught the swords by the sides of the blades. He wasn't quite quick enough, however, as a small amount of blood tricked down his arms from where the swords broke the skin of his palms. As soon as Nibet and X'lish landed, they ran straight for him. At the same time, Glaian threw the swords by their tips back at their owners faster than they had kicked them at him. X'lish ducked under the sword and grabbed the handle as it passed over her, while Nibet jumped up and caught the sword from above. Both of them reacquired their weapons with a very brief reduction in speed before they resumed their charge.

As they reached him, they tried to attack up close where they had originally targeted him at range. As the swords closed in, Glaian knocked Nibet's upwards with his elbow and brushed X'lish's aside with the back of his other hand. Immediately following, he brought his raised hand down to grab X'lish's head. She drew a handgun from her belt and wedged the muzzle into the sword wound in his hand. He wrapped his fingers around the barrel, but before he could yank the gun from her hands she fired two shots into his arm. The bullets cut through his wrist and part of his forearm.

He stumbled back, reeling from the injury, when Nibet tried to cut his leg off. The sword got stuck in his leg before it hit his leg bone. His muscle density was unusually high, even for a Bone. He slammed down on the side of the blade with his good hand, shattering it. He grabbed the handle with the broken off blade as it fell to the ground and threw it at Nibet's shoulder. She knocked the broken handle to the side with her own handgun, which she in turn used as a bludgeon to force the broken blade further into Glaian's leg.

He turned around and tried to catch her hand, but before he could X'lish thrust her sword through his good arm's shoulder blade. He used his unusual strength to push it pack out with one punch to the end of the blade that had broken through the other side. The blade flew through the air and landed at Thorn's feet. She, Fone, and Phoney all raised their guns at the same time, looking for opening to shoot Glaian without hitting either of the twins. Bartleby growled as he sat the fight out, anxious for the opportunity to maul one of Smiley's murderers.

Glaian turned away from Nibet and stood face to face with X'lish. She tried to shoot him again, but he didn't fall for the same trick twice. He grabbed the barrel of the gun and crushed it, rendering it unusable. He then ripped the gun out of X'lish's hands, whirled around to face Nibet, who was still trying to force the blade through his leg, and knocked her in the side of the head with it. She staggered back, and Glaian took the opportunity to subdue X'lish. He elbowed her in the stomach and punched her square on the nose. She crumpled to the floor.

Only He and Nibet were left. While she was still recovering from his attack, he grabbed the blade still imbedded in his leg and ripped it out. Wielding it like a throwing knife, he launched it into Nibet's shoulder, and she collapsed as well. Both of the twins lay on the ground, barely conscious.

"Fire!" Phoney shouted as Glaian turned to face his gun wielding opponents. The three of them fired every bullet they had at him. As they squeezed off round after round of ammo, the space around Glaian became a blur as he forced his near immobilized limbs to move at almost imperceptible speed. After they ran out of bullets, they lowered their guns and surveyed the damage. Glaian stood exactly where he was, with his fists balled up in front of his face. He lowered his arms to the side, and the three could see that most of his body was covered in bullet wounds, but none were in vital areas. He loosened his hands, and out of them dropped over a dozen bullets each, along with some of fragments of the bones in his hands.

"Bloody stars." Thorn gasped as she witnessed him take a step forward and smile.

"Is that all you can muster, Phoncible? I'm still standing here. What happened to killing me? Or are you sufficiently afraid?" Glaian broke out in a cacophony of laughter. Trembling, Thorn drew her sword from its scabbard.

"What are you doing?" Fone asked as she weighed the object in her hands. "You can't use your powers right now. He'll tear you to pieces. Don't do this." He pleaded with her.

"Fone, hand me my cloak." She demanded. "It should be in your bag. I told you to pack it, remember?"

"How can you even-" Fone was about to protest when Phoney placed a hand on his shoulder.

"If she wants to fight, let her fight. She's the only chance we have of ending him here and now." Phoney said grimly. He stared at Glaian as the wounded man continued to cackle.

"Fone, I can fight him." Thorn began to speak before Fone could mount another protest. "The Dreaming has been clearing up since we got here. Or, at least, it's established a readable pattern. If I wear the cloak, I might be able to focus enough to resonate with the Dreaming and move as fast as him. I don't see another way."

"Thorn, I will not stand here and watch the woman I love get taken from me by a madman." Fone was on the verge of breaking down. "Please, don't do this."

"Do you trust me?" She asked. Fone was taken rather aback.

"I…"

"You love me. But do you trust me?" She asked again. Fone swallowed his anxiety.

"Yes, Thorn. I trust you." He responded.

"Then hand me the cloak." He slung his back pack off of his shoulders and rummaged through it until he pulled out Thorn's red hooded cloak. She crouched down and he handed it to her. She took it. Before either of them knew what was happening, she kissed him again. It was shorter this time, but more passionate. Phoney coughed, bringing them back to reality. Thorn stood up and put the cloak on.

"What was that for?" Fone asked as she readied herself for battle. He looked back at him and smiled.

"It was an answer to your question." She responded. She turned to face her opponent as she drew the hood over her face.

"What… oh." The previous day's conversation resurfaced in his mind, and he suddenly became extremely elated and moderately embarrassed at the same time.

"What's takin so long, Queen Thorn?" Glaian shouted across the room as his laughter died down. "I'm just dying to get my hands on Fone's little human bitch!" Thorn didn't respond. Instead, she attempted to focus on the Dreaming.

She could feel it flowing around her for the first time in weeks. She felt its power surge through her. The murky fog that had settled over her mind had lifted, and now her dreaming eye could see clearly again. But something was wrong. The Dreaming began to constrict around her. She fought back, but to no avail. She heard piercing cries of pain and smelled the sound of burning flesh. Then the Dreaming caught fire. This fire was even hotter than the Locust fire of the ghost circles. It was pure horrid energy. Nightmare energy. And standing in the middle of the all-consuming fire, wracked in pain, was Fone. She screamed. She fell out of contact with the Dreaming and collapsed on the ground, wheezing. She dropped the sword to the ground, and yanked the hood off of her face. Fone ran to her.

"Is that all you can muster, human trash?" Glaian asked. He began to laugh again. "Well Phoncible, it looks like you-" He grunted and coughed up blood. His sentence had been cut short when Nibet drove the sword blade he had stuck in her shoulder in between his ribs while he was distracted.

"That's for the weird crystal tooth!" She shouted at him as he collapsed on the ground. She kicked him in the head a few times just to make sure he was incapacitated before running to tend to her unconscious sister.

"Are you all right?" Fone asked frantically as Thorn stood to her feet. "What happened?" She started at him until she knew that what she had seen was just a dream. He wasn't actually burning. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"We have bigger problems than Glaian on our hands right now." She said, still trying to catch her breath. "What I saw in there was horrifying. There's a source of terribly powerful energy moving this way. It's big and it's close. It might already be here."

"Well, I wouldn't call Glaian a problem anymore, exactly." Phoney smiled to himself. "He seems to be down for the count. Come on, let's co check this out." He began to walk toward Glaian's body.

"What about what I saw? The dreaming was on fire, for crying you loud. Something's about to happen." She exclaimed, exasperated that he could remain so calm.

"No, it isn't." Phoney argued as he continued to walk toward Glaian. Thorn rolled her eyes and sheathed her sword. Then she, Fone and Bartleby began following him. "Nothing's about to happen because that source of energy you saw obviously needed the events of the past two months to build up. So if Glaian is down for the count and his army is in tatters, then it doesn't have an energy source anymore, so it isn't a problem." The four of them joined Nibet in crowding Glaian's immobile form. "And plus I still need to get Archibald's location from this guy, so until that's over I refuse to let anything else bother me." He crouched down in front of Glaian's face and put his gun against Glaian's head.

"Now you will tell me where Archibald is. Or I will put a bullet in you." Phoney cocked the hammer back on his sidearm.

"Do you really think one bullet from a handgun will be enough to kill me? You cannot frighten me. And you need me alive." Glaian spat in Phoney's face. Phoney wiped it off.

"I'm counting on it not killing you." Phoney smirked. "But that doesn't mean it won't hurt. So tell me, and I'll spare you that."

"Your threats are empty to me, pretender. You have not won."

"From where I sit, I very much have won. You just seem too stubborn to admit it."

"Then you are an even greater fool than I thought. My army will triumph over your rats and your humans with their swords. Then they will come here and kill you and I will be victorious. And even if you manage to survive my wrath that long, Archibald's location will do you no good. But, since I enjoy watching you squirm, I'll tell you. He's in a complex in the desert, working tirelessly to release the Crystal Councilman from his prison. And soon he shall succeed. The Councilman will rise from his grave, and then we will tear this valley apart together. When the dust settles, the only living thig left in this valley will be the Crown of Horns himself." Phoney stood up and began pacing to clear his head. Thorn squatted down in his place.

"That's the second time you've referred to the Dreaming as a living being. A person, more accurately. Why?" She asked. She knew it was probably nothing more than his lack of education about the Valley, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something larger was playing out around them. She needed answers.

"I refer to it as such because it is. The humans of this valley have become incredibly blind to the history of their own people. Gabriel is the only one of you that I've met that knows anything about the true state of affairs. About Mon'Yaran and his lies."

"Mon'Yaran? I've never heard that name before."

"And pray that you never need to hear it again." Glaian's tone became suddenly graven. "Pray that my plan succeeds. That my Lord's plan succeeds. Or else the whole universe will pay the price."

"What are you blabbering on about?" Phoney asked. "When did you get so heavily involved in the mythos of this place?" He demanded angrily.

"When I came here and learned the truth."

"And what truth would that be, exactly?"

"I would be remiss to tell you. To divulge that secret would be tantamount to admitting my own defeat. And since I haven't been defeated yet, I cannot tell you."

"Haven't been defeated yet?" Phoney shouted. "Look around. You're bleeding out on a temple floor and yet you have the arrogance to still claim the upper hand? Get with reality. You lost when we caught you off guard and blew a hole straight through the heart of your army. You've just been too proud to admit defeat."

"That is where you are mistaken, Phoncible. I still have a few cards left to play. I was just the first. Would you like to see the second?" Glaian mused. Phoney fumed as he contemplated killing Glaian then and there. Before he could raise his gun again, however, the door to the temple exploded. Rankyne and Gran'ma Ben flew through the opening. They landed on the ground unconscious.

"I'm sure everyone would like to see it, Glaian." Said a solitary male Bone who stepped through the ruined door after the humans. He exuded a presence of absolute dread. "And now we have the proper audience."

"Julius Freeman?" Nibet asked, dumbfounded by her ally's sudden behavior. "What are you doing?"

"You're the second card." Phoney began putting the pieces together in his head. "You faked your death and you've been playing us this whole time. You orchestrated the attack to gather us all in one place."

"I'm afraid it's a bit more complicated than that. I've been waiting for this day for longer than any of you can imagine. You might say that without my guidance, all of your lives would be very, very different. I even gave you the presidency, Phoney. Everything in your life, and in the lives of your cousins happened exactly as I intended."

"You're Silas Cohen." Revelation dawned on Phoney. "But… We knew each other for years. You taught me everything. You even found me that…"

"Deal on discount prune tarts?" Julius finished Phoney's sentence. "Yes. I did. And I was also the one that cut your campaign balloon loose, the one who found Glaian's army the funding it needed, and so much more. I needed you to go to the Valley. More specifically, I needed your cousin Fone to go to the Valley." Nibet grabbed Fone's gun and pointed it at Julius's head.

"Surrender, Julius Freeman." She said through gritted teeth as she approached the supposed mastermind. "This is over. I don't know if you've noticed, but you're outnumbered. And you don't have an army to back you up. If you come quietly, I won't have to break too many of your limbs."

"Wait Nibet." Fone stood up. "He said he wanted me to come here six years ago. That means he knew about the Valley six years ago. I don't think he is who he says he is. Something bigger is happening here." Fone turned to question Julius. "On that note why did you want me in the Valley six years ago?"

"Oh you poor, naïve child. You know nothing of your birth. Of the grand purpose for which you were destined." He interrupted his own though and pointed at Thorn. "Before you ask, young Harvester, I am not the source of nightmare energy you witnessed consuming the Dreaming. And neither is the Crystal Councilman. What we're about to bear witness to should explain what I mean."

"He's obviously crazy. He's just trying to get inside our heads." Phoney commented, more to himself than anyone else.

"I don't care what's going on, I'm taking him down." Nibet snapped. "Julius Freeman!" She began to shout as she approached him. "Put your hands behind your head now!" Julius chuckled. He was about to respond when someone else began to speak.

"Put the gun down, Nibet. It won't do you any good to ask something of a man who doesn't exist." Jigafta walked through the busted doors and stood just beyond the threshold. He locked eyes with Julius and instantly everyone in the room felt a very powerful, very unique sense of horror.

"Julius Freeman and Silas Cohen are just names." Jigafta continued to talk as he slowly moved forward to meet Julius. Every word he spoke carried what seemed like the weight of the world. "Like Jigafta Utenki is for me. They were names created to mask what he truly is. His real name is Deyavara Harvester, Prince of Atheia, and younger brother of Queen Ven."

"Ah Nagratek. It has been awhile since we used our real names. Doesn't it make you feel nostalgic?" Julius began talking. At the same time his face was enveloped in an inky black substance. It receded a second later, but his features had completely changed, and he had acquired a large scar over his left eye. They never broke eye contact, almost as if no one else in the room really mattered. "It's almost enough to make me forget what you did to my family. What you did to me."

"I'm not here to reminisce, Deyavara. I'm here to settle things, once and for all. I will not let you destroy everything we built. Everything your sister built."

"I do not care about Ven's little fool's errand!" Deyavara shouted, motioning at his surroundings. "I don't care about these humans you seem to have grown so fond of! I care about my duty to my father! And I will not be lectured to by a traitor to my people!"

"I haven't come here to reason with you, Deyavara. You proved a long time ago that you were well beyond comprehending reason. I've come here to kill you." The temperature of the room increased steadily.

"You can't kill me, Nagratek. You've tried and failed twice now. What makes you think that this time will be any different?"

"I failed before because I thought I could kill you without absorbing you. But now I don't have any other choice. This has to stop. And I'm going to stop it." Julius and Jigafta both readied themselves for a fight. Both of their bodies began emanating an eerie black light, and the inky substance that had changed Julius's face began to envelope both of them. Everyone else save for Glaian stood rapt at the sight of two seemingly otherworldly being about to do battle. Just before it started, however, the ground shook with the shock wave of an explosion. It was close. Glaian smiled.

"What was that?" Phoney asked as he pointed his gun back in Glaian's face. Glaian smirked.

"That, Phoncible, was the sound of the third card."

"What is it? Tell me or I will blow your brains out."

"You can't kill me. Not because you fear me, but because you have no fight left." Glaian stood up. There was another explosion, closer this time. Glaian and Phoney stood eye to eye. The muzzle of Phoney's gun was inches away from Glaian's forehead. "You've lost." Glaian taunted.

"Maybe." Phoney lowered his gun. Glaian smiled a triumphant smile. There was a third explosion. Phoney's grip tightened. He raised the gun again. Glaian's smile faltered. Phoney looked him in the eye. "But not to you." Glaian took a step back. There was a fourth explosion. Phoney pulled the trigger.

The bullet exited the gun. The ceiling collapsed. Everyone looked upward. Descending from the sky directly over Glaian and Phoney was a giant white mech wielding King Agak's corpse. It used the body of the large rat to knock the ceiling aside as it fell. After it entered the temple, it swiveled around and threw King Agak at the back of the temple. The body knocked down most of the temple wall, revealing a substantial force of Bones standing over a large number of rat creature corpses. As the mech continued to fall, it spun back around and extended its arm to the ground. It opened its hand on top of Glaian as it landed on its feet, shielding him with large rectangular metal fingers. They fell into place just before Phoney's bullet hit its mark. The bullet bounced harmlessly off of Glaian's new shield. Then the mech's pilot spoke over the mech's speaker system.

"I told you to be more careful Glaian." The pilot admonished him. Phoney and Fone instantly recognized the voice. "You seem to have forgotten the first rule of any fight. You've got to find yourself a shield."

The cockpit of the mech opened. Inside stood a tall, slender Bone. Spreading along the left side of his face grew a solid blue crystalline structure. In encompassed his left eye, most of his left forehead and the space in between, touched the left corner of his mouth, and ran down the backside of his neck to his shoulder where it spread like wildfire across the rest of the left side of his upper body. But that wasn't what Fone and Phoney noticed. They noticed the cigar burning idly in his mouth. They noticed that he wasn't wearing his usual vest and hat. They noticed that his joyous eyes had been reduced to cold, lifeless sockets. They noticed that the indelible smile they had once cherished had twisted into a sickly grimace that cursed the world. Inside that cockpit stood a ghost. Inside that cockpit stood the dead body of Smiley.

"No." Phoney whispered. "This is a trick. This had got to be a trick." He muttered to himself. He tried to deny what he saw right in front of him. "I didn't ask for you to save me!" He began to shout. "And now here you are, condemning me with your gaze! This isn't real! This can't be real!" Phoney collapsed on the ground and began to weep. Meanwhile, Fone approached the mech in disbelief.

"Smiley, it that you?" He asked the thing wearing his cousin. It stared at him but did not acknowledge his presence. It stared through him. "What're you doing here? I thought you were dead." Fone reached out to touch it. It didn't react. He hesitated, and pulled his hand back. Its unfeeling gaze terrified him. "What's wrong?" He asked. "What's going on?" Again it did not respond. Fone pleaded with it to say something, anything. Finally it spoke.

"How shall I deal with them, Lord Glaian?" It asked. Its voice was almost Smiley's, but the joy was gone from it. The life was gone from it.

"Kill them." Glaian responded gleefully. "Start with the closest one. Let him see you as you do it." Glaian pointed at Fone. Fone backed away, refusing to accept what he was hearing.

"Acknowledged." It said mechanically. It retreated back into the cockpit, but did not close the canopy. The mech shuddered to life again. It lifted its hand up out of the ground. Out of one of the fingers extended a large blade. Without pause, the thing that wasn't Smiley ran that blade through Fone's heart. Fone screamed.

His entire body felt like it was on fire. He writhed in pain. Smiley, gentle innocent Smiley, had attacked him, had killed him. His soul screamed in agony. He felt weightless. He lifted from the ground like an angel. And then his pain sharpened into hatred. His body stilled and his vision cleared. He could see in front of him as he floated on air the same scene as in his vision: A white mech, and behind it an army, and overhead a burning sun. And suddenly he was confused. It was night. There was no sun here. And yet it was illuminated all the same. And then he realized that he was not dead. This was real. And so was raging inferno spreading forth from his skin. He was the sun in his vision. He was the light. And he was going to burn everything away.


	23. Foundations: Part 3

Author's Note: As of June 27th, 2016, the entire fanfic has been rewritten. That means this chapter, all that came before it, and all that follow it now contain different content that they did previously. You are strongly encouraged to go back and reread the entire fanfic from the beginning, as the revised continuity may confuse you if you jump in part of the way through.

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_**Foothills of the Yadrek Mountain Range, Norga Province**_

_**January 2476, Fifty years ago**_

The intense wind howled in Virnakt Milzaek's ears as he trudged through the snow. In front of him, his client led the pair of shivering bodies up an increasingly steep hill toward a well-hidden cave entrance imbedded into the base of the mountain towering above them. They trudged along in silence because, despite the heavy amount of protective clothing each of them wore, the intense cold had sapped their willingness for conversation soon after their latest visit to the Norgabard for supplies. That was two days ago. As the cave approached, Virnakt smiled internally at the prospect of warming himself up a bit. Unfortunately, that goal would have to wait.

As soon as the pair reached the cave, they were astonished by what they found. The interior was a perfectly circular tunnel that twisted and turned its way into the mountainside, while the walls were completely smoothed flat and covered with a thin layer of a blue material that had the texture of glass. The strange and fantastic sight alleviated Virnakt of the cold's reticence.

"What is this place, doc?" He asked as he and his client, a middle aged man named Doctor Harrison Bone, a professor who taught ancient history at Boneville University and who had only a few years ago helped to found the Boneville Explorer's Society, tentatively began their descent into the cave's depths.

"Well, according to ancient religions, this mountain was the sight of a titanic battle between two gods, brothers in fact. In legend, the battle was so intense that the brothers almost cracked the earth in two, spewing up lava from deep underground that cooled around the brothers, sealing them within a prison of magma in the mountainside." Harrison recounted the tale with nostalgic fascination. "But in reality this passageway was most likely carved out by a magma flow during an eruption that took place almost a thousand years ago." He tacked his more scientific explanation on as an afterthought.

"So, not that I'm complaining or anything, but if we're not robbing some sort of ancient tomb, then why did you go out of your way to hire someone of my particular skillset?" Virnakt pulled out a flashlight as the light from the entrance receded behind them. Harrison did the same.

"Well, this area of the country is known for being extremely dangerous almost all year round, and I figured hiring one assassin would provide as much protection as I'd need at the fraction of the cost of an entire crew." Virnakt flinched at the mention of his occupation.

"Assassin is such an ugly word. I prefer freelance problem solver." He corrected sheepishly before remembering why he asked his question in the first place. "But that's not the point. The point is, why not get some local guide to bring you up here? I'm sure they'd know the land a whole lot better than I do."

"Well, I tried that, but they refused to go near this place. The ancient religious practices of this region are still heavily entrenched, and the locals refuse to trespass on the resting grounds of their gods. They're afraid of the consequences." Virnakt could hear a hint of fear in Harrison's voice.

"It sounds like they aren't the only ones." He commented smugly.

"While it is true that an unusually large number of people have gone missing in this specific area, that doesn't mean this cave is somehow haunted. It's more likely being inhabited by some creature, probably a bear."

"Sure, doc. Whatever puts your mind at ease." The pair arrived at what looked at first like a flat wall at the end of the tunnel, but upon closer inspection the pair realized that there was a crack in the rock near the wall just large enough for a Bone, though not a human, to squeeze through. Out of the crack radiated a faint glow. They stood enraptured around it for a few seconds without moving, at which point Harrison gestured from Virnakt to the opening. Reluctantly, Virnakt crawled through. What he found on the other side confused, frightened, and excited him all at once.

The antechamber was a large circle with a domed ceiling that stretched up almost twenty feet into the air. The walls were covered in the same glassy substance as the passageway, although in this chamber the substance was several feet thick at its thinnest and spread around haphazardly, forming rippling wave-like formations and stalactites that dripped like melting wax from the top of the dome. But the geological fascinations were by far the most mundane aspect of the sight that lay before him.

Imbedded in the far wall were two Bones who seemed to be frozen in place inside the crystalline substance covering the walls. The first was a male of slightly higher than average height, for a bone, who wore a red tunic draped with a brown cloak fastened over his right shoulder with an intricately carved golden brooch. On his face was frozen a scream of either anger of intense pain, and out from the sleeves of his tunic protruded a black substance that covered his arms down to his elbows. The Bone next to him was an infant swaddled in a white blanket who seemed to have been asleep when he was frozen. In addition to the two trapped bones, there were several dead bodies littering the ground, all completely devoid of flesh and wearing clothes from disparate eras stretching back almost four hundred years. At a glance, the most recent was approximately just over forty years old.

But the crowning marvel of all the strange aspects of the antechamber was the Bone sitting cross-legged in the exact center of the room, staring intensely at the infant in the wall. Its entire body was covered in the black substance that enveloped the frozen Bone's forearms. Its hands were raised above its head, clasping an object between them in a manner that resembled a worshiper offering prayers to a deity. It shook violently, and murmured almost inaudibly in an ancient language. Despite the low volume of its words, they permeated the entire room, and seemed to reach Virnakt not through his ears but his mind.

"Would you move out of the way? You're blocking the passage." Harrison tapped Virnakt on the shoulder, snapping Virnakt out of an entranced stare he hadn't realized he had slipped into. He moved to the side, and Harrison stepped through the crack in the wall. As soon as he passed through, he stopped in his tracks to drink in the strange and fantastic fixations of the antechamber.

"So you see them too?" Virnakt asked, unassured of his own sanity. Harrison nodded. "Good. At least I'm not hallucinating." Virnakt turned back to the bone sitting on the floor. "So… do you have any idea what that thing is?" Without flinching, Harrison gave a matter-of-fact reply.

"Assuming we aren't both crazy, that person in the middle of the room and the other one stuck in the wall are most probably the twin gods of legend."

"You're kidding, right?" Virnakt almost laughed, but the look on Harrison's face was highly serious.

"If you have an alternative explanation, by all means, voice it." Harrison stared ahead contemplatively. He turned to Virnakt, as if he expected a reply. Virnakt remained silent. Content that he had made his point, Harrison returned to observing the thing in the center of the room. As the pair stood in perfect silence, the chanting began to grow louder. The mountain itself began to shake as the "god" in the center of the room began to shake more violently. Then a light emerged from the forehead of the infant. It traveled through the crystal toward the black Bone. As it emerged from its crystal housing, the area of the wall where it left liquefied and traveled with the light, cooling to form a perfect sphere of crystal around it. The black bone stood up and plucked it out of the air with one hand, whilst grasping the object it had held so tightly in the other. It then took the ball and sunk it deep into its own forehead. The light crossed the surface of the black substance, which rippled like a liquid in response, before it was swallowed whole into the thing's body.

Immediately after this occurred, the substance began to recede across the creature's body, revealing an average looking, albeit completely naked, male Bone that resided underneath the phantasmal coating. As the substance slinked backward it all pooled in the middle of his back, where it too sank underneath his skin. It was only now that he realized Virnakt and Harrison were in the room.

"Ven, it appears we have visitors." He spoke aloud to no one as he turned around to face them. At the same time, he unclenched his hand and Virnakt and Harrison finally saw the object he was holding onto so tightly: a golden chain necklace with a large blue crystal pendant hanging from the middle. He placed the pendant around his neck. Then he glanced down at it, as he was upset by something it had said.

"No, we can't just let them leave… Because I need to replenish the energy I expended during the extraction if we want to keep the barrier up. Or would you prefer to just let your brother run off and free the councilman?" He continued to talk to the pendant. Virnakt and Harrison looked at each other, more than a little confused by what they were witnessing. They had little time to ponder their predicament, however, because the stranger had apparently finished the conversation with his necklace, and began walking toward them. Instinctively, Virnakt drew two small knifes from a sheath on the backside of his belt and prepared to engage the stranger in combat.

"I apologize for my rude behavior earlier. Had I known guests would be arriving, I would have left a more presentable impression." The stranger spoke at them. Direct focus from his voice sent chills up Virnakt's spine. He hadn't been this frightened or excited by anything in his entire life. Harrison, on the other hand, was barely phased. Apparently, it took more than the gaze of a supposed god to bother him.

"I am extremely confused right now." Virnakt locked eyes with the stranger. The malice in them almost made him flee, but he held his ground. "But if you take another step toward us, I will not hesitate to put you down." The stranger stopped moving and immediately burst out in uncontrollable laughter. It took him a minute to compose himself. His nonchalant appearance only put Virnakt more on edge.

"I'm sorry." He replied as he wiped a tear from his eye. "It's just that… You're… Damnit, I lost the word." Without turning his gaze from Virnakt, he pointed at Harrison. "You, scholarly man. What's the word for _nogolek_ in the modern tongue?" The sudden address threw Harrison for a loop, but he quickly recovered.

"_Nogolek_…" Harrison pondered for a moment. "That particular form of the word is from a Middle Morun dialect most commonly spoken during the Wadralian war and the century preceding it. Less than twenty people speak it now."

"Less that twenty people still speak it? That's disheartening. I was rather fond of that one. But that is beside the point. Now will you please answer the question?" The stranger was growing visibly impatient. He clenched his fists and a vein was starting to bulge in his neck, almost as if he was holding something back.

"Mortal. The word you're looking for is mortal." Harrison begrudgingly divulged the information. Satisfied, the stranger resumed his conversation with Virnakt.

"Mortal. There you go. You're mortal. And as such, you cannot even fathom the power required to touch me, much less harm me. In fact, you're only alive at this moment because I find the pair of you rather amusing."

"Doc, is it cool with you if I tear this guy's limbs off, or would you prefer to actually know what's going on here?" Virnakt asked, feigning calm while internally working his analytical skills on overdrive to find some sort of strategy for survival. Then he remembered the Bone still stuck in the opposite wall.

"Just do whatever gets us out of here alive." Harrison responded. "We can figure out the rest later." Virnakt smirked, excited by the prospect of going all out against a supposed god.

"Roger that, boss." He responded gleefully. Without another word Virnakt threw the small knives in his hands at the stranger's face. The stranger caught them with ease, and returned them at twice the speed Virnakt had thrown them. Virnakt was barely able to dodge the counter-attack, but before he could recover, the stranger was somehow already standing next to him. The stranger tapped him on the stomach with what seemed like only the slightest of force, and Virnakt collapsed to the ground.

"You cannot best me, boy. Accept your fate now, and I will make your death painless." The amusement was gone from the stranger's voice. The novelty of his guests had worn off. Virnakt grunted in response, unable to deliver any coherent response. What he was able to do was draw a small submachinegun from the inside of his coat. Crouched on the floor, he sprayed an entire magazine at the stranger at point blank range. Every round rippled through the stranger harmlessly as if he was made of liquid. They continued uninhibited on their trajectory and imbedded themselves in the far wall, coating the entire surface with bullet holes.

The stranger seemed only slightly disappointed by the apparent shamelessness of the attack, but before he made another move Virnakt attempted to sweep his legs out from under him. It had the opposite effect, as Virnakt's legs slammed at full speed into what felt like walls of solid steel before he fell flat on the floor. The stranger's legs didn't move. Virnakt instantly rolled behind the stranger. A fraction of a second later, the stranger's fist slammed down into the ground at the spot where Virnakt was crouching. The punch carried such force that it broke through the crystalized surface of the floor for several feet, lodging itself into the resulting crevasse and forming large spider web cracks that spread throughout the room and connected the bullet holes along a network of larger cracks.

Virnakt used the miniscule amount of time the stranger took to deliver the punch and free himself from the opening it created to press himself against the wall in which the other Bones were still trapped. He glanced quickly at the small holes he had made in the wall and the network that had formed between them. Satisfied at his work, he returned his attention to his opponent. The stranger turned to face him. He looked at Virnakt, but in his eyes there was no intent to kill. No malice or rational motivation. His eyes were those of a beast that had gone days without food. He was hungry, almost uncontrollably so, but Virnakt could not fathom a guess as to what the hunger craved.

Quickly the stranger changed his mood. He appeared angry, malicious, and murderous, as if Virnakt's very presence had offended him in some way. But Virnakt did not forget the hunger he had seen. He knew that this thing, be it man or god, was desperate. It was hanging onto the ability to control its actions by a thread, and that thread was about to slip from its grasp. Virnakt surmised that if he pushed it in the right direction, it would lose a hold of that thread, and fall apart entirely. And Virnakt had just the tool necessary to make that push stuck in the wall a mere three feet behind him.

"Has the art of combat degenerated to such a degree that you will not even attempt to die honorably? You would prefer to have me skewer you as you run around like a dog? I'm disappointed. I assumed from your ability that you were the type of person who wanted to die with dignity." The stranger spoke almost with a snarl. He was close to losing control. Virnakt smirked. The stranger's hesitation had guaranteed his victory.

"I actually wouldn't know the first thing about the art of combat." Virnakt began to monologue as he reached into one of his coat pockets and grabbed two small, round objects. "You see, I'm an assassin. I don't deal in combat. I deal in deception, trickery, cowardice, ingenuity, stealth, and most importantly survival. My own survival. I don't intend to die here at all, much less with dignity, and neither does my client. We intend to live. And thanks to your shortsightedness, we will."

Virnakt pulled the objects out of his coat pocket. They were grenades. While he was talking, Virnakt had pulled the pins and kept a tight grip on the safety clips. As he pulled them from his coat, he let go of those as well, igniting the explosive fuses. He jammed them into one of the expanded bullet holes near the frozen bone, and they stuck in place. Immediately the stranger lost control. Virnakt ran in the direction of Harrison's unmoving, slightly quizzical form frantically to escape the blast radius. Expecting the stranger to intercept him, he pulled a handgun from his belt to defend himself until the grenades did their work, but the action proved redundant. The stranger was no longer focused on Virnakt. He was focused single-mindedly on the grenades.

He ran at the wall at lightning speed, desperately trying to prevent the grenades from detonating and releasing the stranger's captive. But he wasn't fast enough. As he reached for the grenades to pull them from the wall, they exploded. The resulting concussive blast shredded the stranger's arm and shattered the crystal wall imprisoning the other two Bones. The stranger looked around frantically, wounded and angry. He looked down and noticed that his pendant had survived intact. At this realization, he breathed a sigh of relief. That sigh was cut short by an inky jet black arm that plunged through the stranger's chest. Standing behind the stranger was the other frozen Bone, now fully enveloped by the black substance in a manner identical to the stranger's prior transformation. The stranger collapsed to the ground and the other Bone stood over his barely conscious body.

"Hello, Nagratek." The bone crouched down and smirked at the stranger called Nagratek with genuine malice in his face. "I've had a lot of time to think over the last thousand years. And I decided that I want you to witness how spectacularly I will defeat you in the coming years. So I will not kill you now. Only when everything you built to defy father comes crumbling down around you will I grant you the mercy of a long, excruciating death."

He stood up and walked to the infant, who was still blissfully asleep and completely unharmed after dropping several feet to the ground. The Bone picked him up and held him in his arms. He placed his hand on the baby's forehead and closed his eyes for a moment.

"Oh my son. It seems Nagratek managed to take your inner soul from you. No matter. You may still prove useful to me." He clutched the child close to his chest, and turned to look at the ceiling, as if he expected an exit to simply appear. At this point, Nagratek stood up and punched the ground with his remaining arm. The entire room cracked in half, and it seemed to Harrison that even the mountain itself may have been split. The Bone lost his grasp on the baby. Out of instinct, Virnakt, who had been watching the scene with a mixture of relief and terror, dove to catch the infant before it hit the ground. As the other Bone turned back to face Nagratek, Nagratek lunged at him and plunged his remaining hand into the other Bone's face. They both began to writhe in pain.

"You will end here, Deyavara! No more chances!" Nagratek shouted. Deyavara, the other Bone, grabbed Nagratek's hand and began to pull it out of his head. Both of them collapsed on the ground in the process. Eventually, Deyavara dislodged the hand from his head. He looked shaken and spent, with the same hungry look Nagratek had in his eyes not a minute earlier. But Nagratek began to rise again, and he opted instead to preserve himself.

He hit Nagratek with his palm at full force in between his eyes, and sent Nagratek flying into the opposite wall. As Nagratek recovered again, Deyavara jumped up and punched the slope of the ceiling, shattering a good chunk of the mountainside and creating an exit for him to escape. He jumped out, and as he left, the entire mountain began to crumble. Nagratek stood up in time to grab Harrison, Virnakt, and the infant and shield them all from the tons of rock that collapsed on them.

After everything settled, he cleared the rock on top of them away with a sweep of his hand, exposing them to the open air. As Harrison and Virnakt, who was still holding the still sleeping baby, stood up to survey the situation, Nagratek collapsed and his body began to slowly liquefy into the substance that had previously covered it. The pair stood over him, unable to muster the words to question anything they had seen. Finally, Virnakt settled on asking the smallest, most insignificant question first.

"Why is the baby still asleep?" He asked. Nagratek laughed, despite most of his ribcage having been shredded.

"You just witnessed a battle between two Nightmare Entities for the first time, and that's the question you lead with?" He was silent for a moment. "I took its inner soul. It will not wake for another few hours. The process is… draining, for all parties involved."

"It's inner what? Also, what's a Nightmare Entity? Who are you and who was the other guy? Who is this kid? What the hell is going on?" Harrison finally broke his prolonged silence. Nagratek's body was almost half liquid now.

"Set the child down and come over here for a moment. I'll attempt to answer your questions as best I can." The two of them did as they were told and crouched around Nagratek's mostly liquid body. With his hand, Nagratek pulled the pendant from his neck and handed it to Harrison. "Before I tell you anything, you need to promise me to get this necklace and that child as far away from here as you can. Make them disappear. Do both of you understand me?" They remained silent. "I need an answer."

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Virnakt tried to hurry the conversation along. Now that Nagratek was talking, he was itching for an explanation. "Now tell us what the hell just happened."

"Deyavara, the one who escaped just now, will attempt to wipe out all life on this planet if I don't stop him. But I'm afraid I don't have the capacity to chase him down at the moment. My body is entering an emergency shutdown state to recover, but the energy I pulled out of Deyavara when I pierced his head during our exchange won't be enough to complete the healing process. I need an alternative source of power to ensure the process goes smoothly, or I could slip into a coma, perhaps indefinitely, but almost certainly for too long."

"What do you use as energy, exactly?" Harrison asked, both intrigued and slightly terrified as to what the answer might be.

"Various things that constitute negative dreaming energy. Negative emotions and thoughts are the chief source, but usually any brainwaves will do. Unfortunately, since this place lacks a dreaming field, I'll have to consume the energy directly from a soul." Nagratek was almost entirely liquid now. Only his face was still recognizable as a solid object. Tendrils of the black liquid rose up from the pool that was once his body. "And since you two are the only souls around, you'll have to do." The tendrils attached themselves to Harrison and Virnakt's foreheads. Both of them screamed out in pain as the memories of recent events were stripped forcibly from their heads. Then they blacked out.

Virnakt woke up with a splitting headache. All around him were scattered large boulders and broken trees. In the midst of this wasteland an infant, no more than a few months old, sat sleeping soundly on a rock next to him. On his other side slouched Harrison Bone, barely conscious.

"What the hell happened?" Virnakt asked as he rubbed his head. "The last thing I remember was finding that crack in the wall and then… nothing."

"There appears to have been an earthquake of some kind that devastated the mountain. Somehow we emerged unharmed." Harrison responded as he stood up. "And I woke up with this necklace in my hands." He held out the necklace to examine it. "It is a curious specimen. My son Henry will greatly appreciate it."

"Speaking of children, where'd the baby come from?" Virnakt asked as he too stood up. Harrison looked at the child as if he had just noticed its presence.

"I have no idea. Perhaps someone left it here with us while they went to go get help?"

"That's not even a remotely logical possibility."

"Then perhaps it was saved by an act of God, just like we were."

"You're kidding, right?"

"We survived being inside a cave during an earthquake that took apart most of a mountain. What else would you call that but an act of God?"

"Dumb luck." Virnakt walked over to the infant and picked it up. "Now let's get this guy to civilization before he freezes to death out here."

"What if his parents come back?" Harrison asked as Virnakt began walking in the direction of the Norgabard.

"Taking a child away from parents who would leave it out in the cold is probably considered a public service in some provinces. So, if they exist, I don't give a damn. You can stay here and tell them I went on ahead if you want, but I'm leaving. You can freeze to death for all I care."

"Where is this hostility coming from?" Harrison began to follow him.

"I almost got killed in an earthquake. I don't do unavoidable risks. After we get back to civilization, I want my pay and then I'm leaving."

"Fair enough, I suppose." The two of them walked in silence for a long time after that. Eventually, the infant woke up. It smiled, and began grabbing for Virnakt's face with a childlike innocence and glee that made Virnakt smile unconsciously. Harrison began to laugh. Virnakt turned around and scowled at him.

"What's so funny?" He demanded.

"I think he's taking a liking to you, Virnakt." Harrison continued to chuckle. "I just never thought of you as the parental type."

"Neither did I." Virnakt commented lightheartedly as he stared into the child's eyes. "But if this guy's parents don't turn up, who knows? Maybe I'll raise him myself. I've been considering retiring to a small apartment in New Taebid anyway.

"I don't think domestic life will agree with you." Harrison took the time to look at the necklace he had found himself with.

"Ignore him." Virnakt said to the child in his arms. "Now if you turn out not to have parents, we're going to have to think up a name for you. How about Faldr?" The child began to babble excitedly at this name. "Ok then. Faldr Milzaek it is." The new father smiled to himself. He had a feeling he was going to enjoy parenthood.

More than a hundred miles to the south of Virnakt, Faldr, and Harrison, another father was in the midst of enjoying a reprieve from his parenthood. His name was Gaimus Betredin. He was the CEO of a declining telecommunications conglomerate which happened to have recently acquired, through a series of complicated shell companies set up by his predecessor, the Boneville Explorer's Society. Currently he was on a much deserved vacation. His wife Maria and his teenaged son Kelkaid had chosen to stay at home in Boneville. As he drove along in a flashy red sports car, an urgent news bulletin interrupted the music Gaimus was listening to over the radio, which mildly upset him. He turned to another station, but it seemed to be playing the same story. He flipped back to the first one and decided to wait it out.

"This story is shocking, to say the least." The local news reporter spoke aloud as Gaimus drove along, only half listening. "An unprecedented seismic event in the Norga province leveled an entire mountain in the Yadrek mountain range only a few short hours ago. Local authorities are en route to the scene on a search for a missing pair of explorers from the fledging Boneville Explorer's Society who headed off for the mountain almost two days ago. We'll have more for you as soon as we can." Gaimus didn't think much of the broadcast. He wasn't a particularly caring man, even when it came to people that were technically in his employ. But what did startle him was the man that stumbled out in front of his car suddenly immediately following the announcement.

Gaimus slammed on the brakes, and the car stopped just short of hitting the man staring at Gaimus from the other side of the windshield. The Bone walked around to the passenger side of the sports car, opened the door, and got in without speaking.

"Who are you?" Gaimus asked, less scared than angry that someone would just force with way into his car like that.

"My name is Deyavara." The man spoke in a low growl. He sounded exhausted.

"And what are you doing in my car?" Gaimus asked the obvious question.

"Shut up." Deyavara reached out and placed his fingertips on Gaimus's forehead. Instantly he searched all of Gaimus's memories to fill in the last millennium's history. He didn't take Gaimus's memories, however, and thus lost power in the exchange. He now needed to recharge. Gaimus, meanwhile, only vaguely understood what had just taken place. His father had been a fervent subscriber of the old religions. And after years of near constant devotion to a host of gods and goddesses, he realized that he was really only worshiping one god as perceived by many groups of people. This god had a few defining characteristics, such as the ability to absorb souls and read minds. Upon experiencing Deyavara's mind scan, Gaimus understood that this man next to him was that deity, and felt a fraction of his true power. Such power so totally overwhelmed his small mind that from that instant onward he regarded Deyavara as his god.

"Lord, what is it you require of me?" He asked his new master.

"Take me to your dwellings. I need a place to recuperate and put my plan into motion."

"There is a cave system underneath Boneville that should serve those needs sufficiently, my Lord." Gaimus put the car in drive and pulled a U-turn, putting them on a three day course for Boneville.

"Good." Deyavara muttered. "Now I must get some rest. As soon as we arrive, there will be a lot of work to do."

* * *

_**Camp Stalwart, Kuvek Province, forty eight miles inland from the Wadral coastline**_

_**May 2499, Twenty-seven years ago**_

X'lish and Nibet both stood on the lawn in front of Camp Stalwart where a large crowd of reporters, journalists, cameramen, and other such individuals had gathered in front of a stage with a singular podium to attend a press conference being held by Senator Patrick Holdsten. Both of them were disguised as journalists in order to get close to the Senator. Their job was to stage an attempt on the Senator's life in order to draw out their high priority targets: the two individuals who attacked the Ryonia building. X'lish casually glanced around, surveying the Senator's protection and looking for anything out of place. Two armed soldier dressed in combat fatigues stood at the corners of the crowd to keep order. Jeleset was posing as the one in the top right corner. She locked eyes with X'lish and they exchanged confirmatory nods. Two secret service officers stood unblinking on stage, awaiting the Senator's arrival. One of them was Viprus, and the other was Selthash. She nodded slightly at each of them and continued to rove.

As her eyes darted around, she also glanced at Izagail, posing as another reporter in the crowd about a dozen feet to her right. As she did so, she accidentally caught the gaze of a reporter standing next to him who had been staring at her for quite some time. He was smiling at her, which, for a reason she couldn't place, set her on edge. He whispered something to his cameraman and then winked at her casually, as if he and X'lish were old friends. She glared at him menacingly for a moment. He only continued to stare at her, undeterred. She broke eye contact and took a step back, concealing herself from him within the crowd.

"Do you know him?" Nibet asked, giving the reporter a cursory glance. "I sure don't."

"We don't exactly have many contacts out in the real world, Nibet. I've no idea who he is. He's just been staring at me, probably trying to act seductive or something. Honestly, it's just creeping me out."

"Well at least you can get someone to notice you. Selthash barely even gives me the time of day."

"I think that's the thinnest excuse I've ever heard you use to complain about your nonexistent relationship problems. And since you are, I'm going to say once again that he doesn't take your affections seriously because you don't have any prior relationship experience and your entire presentation seems rather immature. And also he's a hypocritical jerk who has no prior relationship experience of his own."

"Selthash isn't a jerk. He's just… Shy. That's it. Shy."

"He's not shy, he's a professional killer who lacks a real ability to feel emotion, and you're supposed to be too. This may be the first time you've had real affections for someone, but you're acting like a child."

"I am not." Nibet strained a defensive laugh.

"You are. And besides, you can do so much better than him."

"I seriously doubt that. My options are pretty much limited to people inside the Vanguard, which doesn't give me much to go on. Viprus is like my big brother, you and Izagail already have something going on, and all the other Vanguard guys barely talk to us, so that leaves just Selthash."

"You think Izagail and I are a couple? Seriously? Wow you are more oblivious than I thought."

"You aren't? Then why are you always telling him stuff behind my back that seems to make him uncomfortable."

"Ask him about that. Anyway, that's not important right now. We need to focus on getting the mission done."

"Wow, am I hearing things? Usually I have to be the one to tell you that."

"Ha-ha very funny."

"Jokes aside, this isn't like you. What's on your mind?"

"I just want this over with. Conversation only distracts for so long. The sooner we get away from this sordid affair, the better." She tried to pass off the comment nonchalantly, but Nibet pursued the topic further.

"What do you mean? The press conference? This cannot possibly be that boring. I thought you loved pretending like you were a normal person for a few minutes?"

"No, not the press conference, the mission."

"Well there's a surprise." Nibet rolled her eyes sarcastically.

"It's different this time. Before I was curious about why we were doing what we were doing. I was interested. I wanted to know because I genuinely felt like we were doing good work. But now…" X'lish's tone grew somber. She stared at the floor.

"X'lish?" Nibet asked, concern rising in her voice. "Please don't say what I think you're about to say." X'lish closed her eyes.

"I want out." She flinched, as much in response to Nibet's disapproving visage as her own words. "I don't know what we're doing anymore."

"We are the protectors of the faithful. Be that protection against threats of external origin or-"

"Against demons of their own making." X'lish cut her sister off and stared at her, through her. "That's always your go to response. But we aren't even protecting people anymore. We've spent the last seven months killing people almost at random just do draw two men into a contrived ambush."

"Those men mean to do harm to the entire Order. Stopping them here will end potentially the greatest threat the Order has faced so far. Or did you forget that they're the ones that attacked us at the Ryonia building?"

"I didn't forget. I remember that night vividly. I also remember that they didn't kill anyone, even when they could have, while Jeleset went out of her way to make sure Lady Ryonia ended up dead."

"Lady Ryonia was a traitor who attempted to reveal compromising intelligence about the Order to the enemy." Nibet was visibly appalled that her sister stooped to such lows. X'lish didn't notice, or didn't care.

"Was she? That sounds like justification. In other words, an excuse. Or worse, a flat out lie. Who did her death protect? I'll tell you who, Kelkaid and his influence. I'm starting to think he's the only one benefiting from our services."

"You would dare to question the wisdom of the High Awakened Justicar? You know full well I'm going to have to report this."

"You do that. And while you're doing it, consider whether or not our spree of assassinations over the last few months has been for the good of protecting the faithful, or the good of Kelkaid's close and personal friend Senator Patrick Holdsten's political career." Nibet stared at her sister dumbfounded. X'lish sighed. "You cannot honestly expect me to believe that you haven't picked up on the political climate in the past seven months?"

"We are weapons of a holy crusade. It is not our duty to bother with the fuss of the less enlightened."

"In other words, you've been too wrapped up in your fantasy affair with Selthash to care. Typical. Well, in any case, I refuse to take part in that crusade any longer. After tonight, I'll not be going back to headquarters. I'll stick around and see this mission through because I owe you at least that much, but after we're done here, don't expect to see me again."

"X'lish be reasonable. We can discuss this after the mission's over. But please stay, I know you'll see reason. What we do-"

"Is murder. Unjustified, unsanctioned, baseless murder." X'lish would have continued, but the crowd hushed as the subjects of the press conference made their appearance. "We'll continue this later." X'lish muttered as they both turned their attention to their supposed target.

Senator Holdsten and General Haenkos, the man in charge of the military base, walked onto the stage as the crowd applauded vigorously. They both waved for a moment before they took their places. The Senator stood in front of a modest podium with several microphones from major news networks mounted on it. He drew a sharp breath and delivered his speech.

"First of all I would like to thank my good friend General Haenkos for his continued support of my proposals and his steadfast avocation of peace and security." He paused a moment to applaud the man standing next to him. The General smiled and nodded his head as the crowd followed suit. After the applause died down, the Senator continued to speak. "This is why I felt that is was so appropriate to host my press conference in a military installation. Because despite my best efforts, the Senate once again slashed funding for the Department of Defense. Many naysayers of my continued efforts to increase defense spending have pointed to the flawed notion that, because our country faces no danger from outside invasion and we have refused to involve ourselves in human politics, we have no need of a substantial military. However, this argument fails to acknowledge a particularly glaring truth.

"In the last seven months, the province of New Taebid has borne the brunt of a vicious and unrelenting string of assaults. Its people have suffered almost three dozen terrorist attacks. Skyscrapers explode in the dead of night, civilians are gunned down at random on street corners, and all the while the perpetrators of these rampant acts of violence have eluded the police, the National Guard, and even the FIC. But New Taebid is not alone in suffering these abuses. Over eighty attacks have taken place in a total of sixteen different provinces, and the estimated death toll is in the thousands. All of this has been coupled with severe accusations of corruption among the municipal police services across the country and staggeringly high national crime and murder rates unparalleled in all of Bone history. My fellow citizens, we stand on the cusp of a social and economic crisis, and the only way to return from the edge is to revitalize our armed forces. With the military budget I've proposed and the leadership of General Haenkos, the National Guard would be able to respond to any threat within minutes, root out the murderers responsible for the fear we as a nation have been forced to live under, and end the suffering that has plagued this country for the last decade." He paused for a brief moment to give his audience time to process his message.

"But I know that I cannot instigate these changes while I'm stuck fighting a losing battle in the Senate. Which is why I am as of now announcing my candidacy for the National Party's Presidential nomination." Everyone in the room reacted at once and began excitedly asking questions. He calmed them all with a wave of his hand, and they settled back reluctantly as he continued his speech. "If I am graced with the executive office, I can assure the people of this country, my country, that I will restore order and push back the terror that has gripped our beloved nation for the last seven months. Now, I imagine you must have many questions for me. Fortunately, I have come prepared to answer them as best I can." The reporter who winked at X'lish earlier stepped forward immediately.

"Senator Holdsten, am I accurate in saying that you have every intention of bringing the terrorists currently at large to justice?" He asked. Senator Holdsten was puzzled by the redundancy of the question, but indulged the reporter anyway.

"That is correct. If I am elected president, finding the persons, no, the monsters responsible will be our nation's highest priority. Now, who else had a question they wanted to-?"

"Not so fast, Senator." The reporter waggled his finger at Senator Holdsten in a disapproving manner. "I haven't finished asking my questions. I have a follow up. If you so badly want to see these men pay for their crimes, then why did you invite five of them here tonight?"

As soon as he spoke, X'lish and Nibet felt the barrels of handguns press against the backs of their heads. Across the room, the rest of their team were put in similar situations. The soldier across the room from Jeleset, who also happened to be a woman, shot her in the knee, crossed in front of the stage, and put a gun against her head. As this was going on, Viprus pulled a gun on Selthash and the reporter took a knife from his belt and pressed it against Izagail's neck.

"What is this?" Senator Holdsten shouted. He looked around confused. Viprus drew a second handgun from inside his coat and aimed it at the Senator's head. In response, General Haenkos drew his sidearm and aimed it at Viprus. From the edge of the crowd, the soldier standing over Jeleset unholstered her sidearm and aimed it at the general.

"Move, old man. I dare you." She stared daggers at him. His eyes widened when he saw her face, but he said nothing. Instead he lowered his gun.

"Move in front of the stage, kneel down, and face the crowd." The man holding X'lish and Nibet at gunpoint whispered into their ears. They did as they were told, followed closely by the man holding the guns. As X'lish and Nibet moved, they managed to catch a glimpse of their captor. He was the reporter's cameraman. The rest of their team, Senator Holsten, and General Haenkos were all directed to kneel beside them by their respective captors. Once they were all lined up in front of the stage, Viprus began taking their weapons. When he came around to Nibet, she looked at him with shame, disappointment, and disbelief. It was the same look she had given X'lish in their earlier conversation. He looked back at her with pity. As this transpired, the reporter turned smugly to face an aghast crowd.

"The good Senator here would have you believe that the acts of terrorism he condemns so vehemently were perpetrated by an elusive band of murderers who want nothing less that death for every man, woman, and child in this country. This is not true in the slightest. While it is true that the people behind these attacks have remained out of reach of the authorities, this is not because the FIC and the army are incapable of doing their jobs, but because the Senator wished it to be so. He hired the individuals you see kneeling before you to spread fear, and colluded with General Haenkos to ensure they would remain at large, all so that the masses would rally behind his call for a larger, more powerful military and elect him president. Don't believe me? Listen for yourselves." He nodded at the cameraman, who pulled out his cell phone and typed a few keys. The speaker system crackled to life and began broadcasting a recording.

"It's me." Spoke Senator Holdsten's voice over the speakers. "I need a favor."

"Losing face in the Senate over your vocal anti-human sentiments, I take it." Another voice in the recording responded. It was Kelkaid's, though only the people kneeling in front of the stage knew that.

"It's not just that. I was going to announce my bid for presidential candidacy in a few months, but my public approval ratings are at an all-time low, and they look like they're only going to get worse. I need you to help reverse those numbers."

"You would dare to contact me while I'm still in the midst of containing the Ryonia situation?"

"Believe me, I wouldn't dream of it if I had anyone else to turn to."

"Consider yourself lucky, Senator. It just so happens that I know a way we can both benefit from your current predicament."

"How so?"

"You'll make a speech on national television tomorrow about the reprehensible actions of the people who attacked Lady Ryonia in her sleep last night. Say you will do everything you can in the Senate to see that new measures pass that will help bring them to justice, or something to that effect. Then in a few days, I'll make sure New Taebid suffers another attack. And another. And another. And you'll turn these attacks into fuel for your campaign to pass new laws in the Senate. Eventually, in a few months' time, you'll make a speech where you announce you'll be running for president to put an end to this threat once and for all. That in and of itself should sway enough public opinion to get you elected without a hitch. Meanwhile, I'll leak some false information on unsecured networks that will ensure our enemies make an appearance at your speech as well. We can capture them on live TV, pretend to save your life in the process, and we both get what we want."

"I suppose that could work, but how do we guarantee the army or the FIC doesn't interfere?"

"I'll lead the FIC on some wild goose chase. But I'll need you to talk to General Haenkos about delaying the National Guard response times to give you something to go off of when you speak publically about the issue."

"And, when this whole affair is settled, what do you expect in return?"

"I want my men in your administration once you're president. We can speak more on the issue of compensation at a later date. For now, just contact the General. Let him know it's a direct order from me."

"Of course." Senator Holdsten and Kelkaid finished their conversation, and recording cut out. The reporter continued to talk to the crowd.

"As you just heard, both Senator Holdsten and General Haenkos collaborated with another individual to orchestrate most, if not all, of the terror attacks that have taken place in the last seven months. If there is indeed an elusive group of murderers on the loose, then these two men are, without a doubt, members of it." The reporter produced an official FIC badge from his pocket and held it up for the cameras in the crowd to focus on. "Which is why the FIC will be taking these seven individuals into custody until they can be brought to trial." He then raised his gun into the air and discharged a single round. The crowd fled in a panic "Now, I'm going to have to ask you all to vacate the premises."

As he finished speaking, a helicopter emerged from over the tree line behind the crowd and hovered over the reporter's position. A ladder dropped down from the helicopter and the reporter's cameraman pulled Senator Holdsten and General Haenkos to their feet. With a little encouragement, they walked over to and ascended the ladder up to the helicopter's chassis. The cameraman followed them up. Then Viprus came over to X'lish and Nibet.

"Get up you two. We're going." He spoke without a hint of emotion in his voice.

"Viprus, what are you doing? Why are you helping the enemy? These people want to tear down the entire Order, how can you just go along with them?" Nibet began pleading with Viprus.

"You can't honestly tell me that, after everything you just heard, you think that the Order still deserves to exist." Nibet was silent. She didn't know if she could honestly answer the question. "In any case, you don't have a choice. Get up and get on the helicopter." X'lish and Nibet did as they were told, and they too ascended the ladder with Viprus right behind them.

"I'm not letting you get away, traitor!" Jeleset shouted. She pulled a small knife from the heel of her shoe and rushed the soldier and the reporter. The soldier moved to intercept her, but the reporter held her back. As Jeleset reached the pair, he knocked the knife to the side, swept her off her feet, and kicked her in the head. Several squadrons of armed soldiers emerged from the base, noticed the helicopter, and began running at them.

"We need to go." He turned to the soldier. "Get on the helicopter."

"But Faldr, we can still get them on board!" She protested.

"Get on the helicopter. That's an order, Satranik." Faldr snapped at her. Lieutenant Satranik Haenkos nodded begrudgingly and ascended the ladder. Faldr turned to the two conscious members of the vanguard as they began to approach him.

"I'm choosing to leave you two behind. This is not a blessing, nor is it kindness or pity. If it was any of those things, you'd be on that helicopter right now. Instead, I want you to take a message back to your boss. Tell him he can't hide anymore. Tell him that if he doesn't surrender soon, I'm going to make his death slow, and very painful." With those words, Faldr grabbed hold of the rungs of the ladder and began climbing. As he climbed, the helicopter rose and disappeared back across the tree line.

Izagail slung Jeleset's unconscious body over his shoulder, and he and Selthash ran into the woods toward their secondary evac location. Izagail was fuming as they reached the clearing to await pickup.

"They got Nibet!" He shouted as he put Jeleset's unconscious body on the ground. "I can't believe they took her! And I couldn't do a thing to stop them!" He punched a tree next to him, and his hand began to bleed. "I swear I will get her back."

"I've never understood your obsession with that woman. She's so childlike and immature. And plus, now she's a traitor to boot." Selthash responded. Izagail walked up to him and punched him square on the jaw.

"What the hell!" Selthash shouted.

"Don't you talk about her like that! She's practically falling over you, and you sit up on your high horse thinking you're too good for her! Well I've got news for you. You aren't fit to walk on the same ground as her, you elitist pig!"

"You've got some nerve, defending a traitor like that." Selthash responded smugly.

"Call her that again, and I break your jaw!"

"Call her what, the truth? She climbed that ladder of her own free will, we both saw it. Her and her sister are both traitors, as far as I or the vanguard are concerned."

"That's it! You're dead!" Izagail began winding up to take another swing at Selthash. He was interrupted by the intervention of a third party.

"Losing two members of my inner circle and letting half of my best vanguard team turn traitor wasn't enough, you have to tear each other apart over it too? I'm starting to think I made the wrong choice appointing you two to the Vanguard." Kelkaid walked into the small clearing, visibly disappointed by what he was witnessing.

"High Awakened Justicar." Izagail and Selthash both fell over themselves to bow in his presence. "We were not aware that you would be attending to our retrieval yourself."

"I do not make a habit of it, but I thought I would make an exception this once. Clearly, I was mistaken. Come, the vehicle is not far." He began to recede back beyond the trees.

"High Awakened Justicar." Izagail interjected, remembering Faldr's message. "Wait."

"What is it? Do not make me waste any more of my time my time." Nonetheless, Kelkaid stopped moving.

"Their leader said he had a message for you. He said that if you didn't surrender soon, he'd give you a slow, painful death."

"Did you really ask me to stop because you wished to relay the empty threats of some piece of driveling scum?"

"No, your lordship. I also overheard one of his followers call him by name. She called him Faldr." Kelkaid stood silent for a moment.

"Now this is interesting. I thought Virnakt's boy had perished with Graham seven months ago. If he is still alive, then I will relish the opportunity to face him on the field of battle. Now enough distractions. You two follow me. You've got a lot of explaining to do before we get back to Headquarters." Selthash picked up Jeleset's still unconscious body, and the three of them walked out of the clearing and into the trees.

* * *

_**Boneville Explorer's Society dig site nine, somewhere in the Eastern Desert**_

_**May 2499, Twenty-seven years ago**_

Dig site nine was, in and of itself, not very impressive. It was a small collection of beige rectangular canvas tents and metallic supply crates clustered around two twin blue crystal spires that rose into the air from the desert sand about five hundred feet apart. At the moment Jigafta snuck through the camp, it was just past midnight. The camp was inactive and silent, save for the hushed chatter drifting from underneath the flap of one of the medical tent. The camp was staffed with a crew of just under ninety, including a dozen archaeologists from the Boneville Explorer's Society and a few handlers from the Order of the Hallow Soul disguised as hired hands to keep an eye on the dig and ensure it went smoothly should anything interfere.

Jigafta knew all of this from simply looking around at his surroundings as he snuck through the camp. None of this interested him, however, because he was fixated on one object in the camp, and one object only. Even since he learned of this dig site's existence seven months ago, Jigafta had been attempting to track down the necklace he gave away to the professor who had inadvertently helped free Deyavara twenty three years ago. Unfortunately, the memories he had taken from the professor's head to keep himself alive did not contain the professor's identity, so he was forced to track the necklace down the hard way, which had lead him, conveniently, to the destination he intended to journey to after he had found the necklace.

Now that he was in the dig site itself, he could feel the pull of the necklace's energy from within one of the tents toward the center of the camp. He darted inside, expecting to have to disable its residents before he could retrieve the necklace. To his surprise, it was empty. The only contents of the room were a pair of cots, some basic supplies, and a small wooden box sitting on top of a crate. He opened the box, and inside sat the necklace he had been trying to find for the past seven months. He pulled it out, and reveled in the feeling of having it close once again. Without hesitation, he focused his mind and produced from inside his head Deyavara's son's inner soul trapped within a sphere of crystal. He took that sphere and held it up next to the necklace. Instantly the necklace absorbed the soul from the sphere and incorporated it into itself.

"Almost there, Ven. Just one last piece." He whispered to it as he placed it around his neck. Now he had to go secure his second objective. He slinked out of the tent and headed for the reason for camp nine's existence: a large jagged hole that loomed in the middle of the five hundred foot expanse of sand in between the two crystal spires. At the edge of the hole that faced the camp, the archaeologists had set up a large wooden platform, able to be raised and lowered by a system of pulleys, in order to transport material out of the hole. Jigafta ignored the platform and instead jumped straight into the opening.

The drop was two hundred and fifty nine feet, more than enough to kill any normal Bone. But Jigafta was not a normal Bone. He landed at the bottom of the drop completely unharmed, and standing inside the last place he ever wanted to go back to. Inside the drop was a large, almost cavernous, and completely unlit rectangular room made entirely out of more blue crystal. From floor to ceiling and from wall to wall, empty crystalline racks loomed over Jigafta's head. All around him, piles of blue dust coated the floor of the entire room.

"Damn, they've all decayed already." He commented as he looked around at the remains of his objective.

"Oh they didn't decay, Nagratek." An eerily familiar voice spoke behind him. "I sucked them dry just after you left, with the exception of the Successor." Jigafta whirled around to face the voice. The person he saw standing behind him was the last person he had ever expected to see.

"Shard?" Jigafta asked. The thing Jigafta saw facing him could hardly be called a living being. Shard was a First Folk, like the Crystal Councilman and Lorimar, whose soul had been shattered as punishment for attempting to betray the Councilman. He survived by using his people's unique affinity for soul transference to transfer part of his soul into an inert mass of crystal that he slowly shaped into a body he could move around in. As a result of his shattered state, he was unable transfer out of his shell, and remained in the form of a vaguely humanoid, seven foot tall crystalline structure that lacked any defining characteristics save for a lopsided mouth and two glowing eyes.

"In the flesh. Or, crystal, as it were." Shard smiled. As he did so, the crystal that formed his face contorted and bent in ways not unlike human or Bone expressions, revealing a row of many sharp, needle shaped crystal teeth.

"How did you know it was me?" Jigafta asked, raising an eyebrow. Shard hadn't seen Jigafta in this form. They hadn't seen each other at all for over three millennia.

"I will admit, the new look did throw me for a loop, especially when you came down the hole. But once I saw you wearing that necklace I knew it was you."

"So you absorbed all of them?" Jigafta asked as he began walking around the room, examining the piles of dust.

"Yes. It took me a bit of time, but we won't have to worry about new Nightmare Entities popping up."

"Did you remember anything?"

"Bits and pieces, but nothing substantial. Mostly fragments from my time in the research laboratories. I think I was head researcher for something, but what is was, I can't say."

"Wait… how can we understand each other?" Jigafta paused. "You didn't absorb anyone, did you?"

"No. As it turns out, I can't absorb souls that aren't my own. Not that I would need to. The Valley people speak the exact same language as the "Bones" do. They even share many of the same idioms."

"That's not possible. They've been separate for over three thousand years, their languages couldn't have developed in the exact same direction."

"Not under normal circumstances, no. But they did. And the minds of the Valley people are fully exposed to the influence of the Dreaming."

"You aren't suggesting…" Jigafta began seriously examining the implications of what was going on.

"I am. I think Mon'Yaran is attempting to synchronize variables between the Morudagni and the Valley people."

"But that would mean he's fully conscious again, and that would mean the Locust would begin waking up."

"It has, actually. And though it isn't fully conscious, its influence has caused the hairy men to revolt. Additionally, the growing fear has pushed the current leader of the Vedu, Tarsil, over the edge, and now he's interpreted our pledge to keep the dragons in check to mean that he should kill all the dragons. Also, he's been increasingly vocal about announcing the Vedu's existence to the public. But that isn't even the worst part. If Mon'Yaran successfully synchronized language between a group of people inside the Dreaming and a group of people outside the Dreaming, that means he has an agent operating under his control inside the Morudagni population."

"Great. Now I've got to deal with Mon'Yaran's men and Deyavara's insanity."

"What happened to Deyavara?"

"His wife died. And now he's switched sides again."

"That would explain it."

"Explain what?"

"The reason I'm here. A little more than two seasons ago, the hairy men's attacks generated enough negative energy that Sozenga was able to escape her confines and flee here. I immediately went after her, but I lost her trail west of here, near some densely populated centers. It's obvious now that she went to go meet with Deyavara."

"Which means that now Deyavara is not an isolated incident." Jigafta stopped to think for a moment. "You need to get back to the Valley immediately."

"But if Mon'Yaran has an agent here, then-"

"Then I'll deal with it myself. Right now you need to get this Tarsil guy in line and make sure Sozenga doesn't accomplish whatever goals Deyavara gave her. In the meantime, I'm going to focus on finding the Successor. Deyavara is searching for it, and if I can find it first, then his whole plan, whatever it is, should go up in smoke. Or, at the very least, it'll buy me the time to find him and end him, once and for all."

"Well, you won't find the Successor here. The Bones carted it away on that lift two days ago." Jigafta nearly had a stroke when he heard those words.

"What!" He shouted. He ran for the exit back to the surface. "Why didn't you tell me that sooner?!"

"You never asked. I didn't think it was that important until now." Shard shrugged sheepishly.

"Well, it is!" Jigafta shouted back as he prepared to launch himself to surface level. "I only hope they didn't already get it to him! For now, just go back to the Valley and do your damn job for once!" With those words, Jigafta leapt out of the cavern in the sand and landed back in the middle of camp site nine.

As soon as he landed, Jigafta heard sobbing coming from the medical tent. Tentatively, he tried to search around the camp and avoid the tent altogether, but soon he found himself standing front of it, caught in between his sense of urgency and his morbid curiosity. Eventually, he reasoned that if the Successor was still here, it wasn't going anywhere, and his curiosity won out. He opened the flap of the tent and stepped inside.

The tent was occupied by four Bones. The first one that caught Jigafta's eye was the man standing in the corner doing an amateur job of concealing a firearm underneath his working cloths. The second was a man in medical scrubs standing next to a small metal tray on a stand cleaning fluids off of some medical implements using a rag. He was also concealing a gun. The last two were a man and a woman, presumably a couple. The man was dressed in a full archaeologist's getup, while the woman wore surgical scrubs. She was sitting up on an operating table near the doctor, and the man stood next to her. Clutched in her arms was the body of a recently deceased infant. She was the one crying. The couple and the doctor were in the middle of a conversation when Jigafta walked in.

"How could this have happened, doctor?" The man asked. He looked as if he was about to throw up. The doctor turned to face him, obviously distraught by the outcome of whatever had taken place.

"There were complications during the birth." He remarked matter-of-factly. "They were most likely the result of Janet placing undue stress on the fetus over the past few months. If she had only taken my suggestion and not worked herself so hard at the digs, then-" The man banged his fist on the operating table.

"Damn it, don't you blame this on her! You failed to deliver our child properly. Our son is dead because of you!" The man began shouting.

"Now Henry, calm down. Let's be reasonable about this. I did everything I could to save the child, but there's only so much I could do."

"Bullshit!" Henry looked like he was about to kill the doctor. It was at this point that the guard in the corner noticed Jigafta.

"Looks like we have a visitor." He remarked. He reached for his gun. Jigafta drew a knife from his back pocket and threw it into the man's throat. The doctor pulled his gun in response, but before he could fire Jigafta ran up to him and broke his neck. Henry stepped back in shock. Janet just began to cry more.

"What the hell is this?!" Henry shouted. He realized what kind of danger his wife was in, and placed himself between Jigafta and Janet. He looked around frantically for something to defend himself with, but came up short. Jigafta walked up to him and looked him over from head to toe briefly.

"Judging by the fact that you haven't made some sort of foolish attempt to kill me yet, I'm going to assume you didn't know that the Order had imbedded agents into this camp's staff." Jigafta walked away from his and began looking around for something. Henry and Janet stared at him, unmoving. After a moment he turned back to face them.

"I'm not going to kill you, if that's what you're wondering. Well, not yet anyway." Jigafta returned to his search.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" Henry asked tentatively.

"We don't have much time, so I'm going to make this brief. I can save your child's life." Jigafta responded without turning back around to face them.

"My child is dead. What makes you think you can just magically bring the dead back to life?"

"To you people it would certainly appear like magic." Jigafta commented offhandedly. After he had searched the whole room, he turned to face them again. "Your team recovered a large blue crystal from an antechamber in the cavern outside about two days ago. Is it still on the premises?" Henry paused for a second at the sudden shift in the conversation. After a moment, he found himself.

"Yes it is. Why?"

"Retrieve it. Bring it in here as soon as possible. With it I can bring your child to life." At those words, Janet looked up from her sobbing and begged Henry with her eyes to do as Jigafta said. Without another word, Henry left the tent.

"What's the child's name?" Jigafta asked, after a minute of palpable silence had passed. He was trying to distract himself from the fact that what he was about to do violated three thousand years of gut instinct.

"We hadn't picked one out yet." Janet said quietly. "It was a tossup between Aaron and Fone." Jigafta burst out laughing. After a moment, he composed himself.

"I'm sorry, but... Fone? I've never heard a name like that before."

"Is that a problem?" Janet asked weakly. She had returned to staring at her child's dead body. "Henry came up with it."

"I see. I'll have to hear the story of how some other time, I guess." At that moment, Henry burst through the tent flaps dragging a metal cart behind him. On it sat a large mass of jagged blue crystal, almost as big as an adult Bone. As soon as it entered the room, it began glowing.

"Good, there's still time. Put it over there." Jigafta pointed next to the table. Henry did as he was told. As it was being positioned, Jigafta muttered to himself. "I can't believe I'm about to go through with this." He turned to Janet. "Can I please hold your baby for a moment?" She recoiled from him. Jigafta looked at Henry. Henry approached his wife and coerced the infant from her arms. Then he handed it over, begrudgingly, to Jigafta. Jigafta took the child and raised it up to the crystal lump. In response, it glowed. Tendrils of light reached out from it and wrapped themselves around the child's body. They dragged it into the interior of the crystal. The glowing intensified, blinding everyone in the room. After several minutes it subsided, and the crystal was gone. In its place lay a perfectly healthy, living male Bone infant. Henry and Janet were stunned.

"How… What… Why…" Henry struggled for words.

"In simple terms, I've given his soul a new body, but in reality it's slightly more complicated than that." Jigafta picked up the child and handed him to Janet. In response, Janet became ecstatic, and began crying tears of joy as she cradled her newborn baby in her arms. Henry looked skeptical. Jigafta continued talking. "What I can assure you of, however, is that it is really your son, and not some sort of imitation or clone."

"I suppose that will suffice." Henry shrugged. "Now that you've done this for us, I'm going to have to ask why you barged in here and killed two of our coworkers beforehand."

"That's fair. My name is Jigafta Utenki. I'm going to need you to listen to what I say very carefully." Jigafta spoke to the couple. They looked at each other, and nodded. Janet spoke for them.

"Whatever it is you have to tell us, we're all ears."

"Before I continue, I'll need you both to swear to me that everything that happened in this room, and everything I am about to tell you, will be secrets that you take to your graves. You will tell no one, not even the people you think you can trust the most or that I tell you you can trust, unless I expressly give you permission. Is that clear?"

"Why all the secrecy?" Henry asked.

"The less you know, and the less other people know, the better. Now are we clear?"

"Of course." Henry responded. "No one would believe us if we said a giant crystal brought our son back to life anyway."

"Good." Jigafta walked over to the corpse of the doctor. "These men worked for an organization called the Order of the Hollow Soul, a criminal syndicate and cult that I've been hunting for years. They deal in everything from drugs to prostitution, and have bribed or bullied their way into virtually every position of power in the country. More recently, they've been looking feverishly for artifacts of historical and religious value, and have sent organizations they have on their payroll, like yours, on expeditions to find them."

"Wait, you're saying that we've been working for criminals this whole time?"

"Unknowingly, yes."

"Everyone here has worked with us for years. How could they have been cultists without us knowing?"

"The Order is an extremely zealous organization. If it is for the good of the Order, they'll do anything necessary, and act in any manner to accomplish their goals." Henry continued to stare at him. "You need proof? They carried guns into an uninhabited, lifeless desert on a supposedly scientific expedition. Why?" Henry didn't respond. He didn't have a good reason. Jigafta pointed at himself. "They brought them because they knew I would eventually show up, and they were here to kill me. Unfortunately for them, the Order has consistently underestimated my abilities."

"Why tell us this?" Janet asked.

"Now that you two owe me, I want you to spy on the Order and find out where they operate from. Once I know that, I can cut the head off the snake and put an end to them. Will you do it?"

"Of course we'll do it. The real issue is how we're going to clean up this." Henry motioned around at the dead bodies.

"Wheel that cart back to wherever you found it. In about twenty minutes, wake up the whole camp. Say I burst in here just after you successfully delivered a healthy child, killed these two men, and forced you to show me where that crystal was being kept before knocking you two out. That's believable enough, and it'll take suspicion off of your son. I'll contact you when I can." He began to head out the door.

"Wait." Janet stopped him. "I've one question." Jigafta paused. Janet stood up and put her baby down on the table. "What should we name him? Aaron or Fone?"

"Fone. Definitely Fone."

"Fone Bone." Henry muttered to himself. "I always knew it'd make a good name."

"Out of curiosity, where did you get the idea for it?" Jigafta asked. Henry though on the subject for a moment.

"Well, when we found that crystal thing, the word FONE was carved into the wall above it in an ancient dialect. With a child on the way, I joked that it'd make a good name for our son. I suppose it just stuck."

"I thought as much. I always knew the acronym could make a good name."

"It's an acronym? What for?"

"It's probably for the best that you don't know. Now I've got to be off." He started for the door again.

"Wait." Henry stopped him. Jigafta rolled his eyes, but turned around all the same.

"What now?"

"Biologically speaking, Bones bruise easily. How are we supposed to fake being knocked out if we don't have the marks to show for it?" Jigafta almost slapped himself on the forehead. He had forgotten that little detail.

"You aren't going to fake being knocked out." Jigafta walked back to the couple and stood between them.

"Don't tell me…" Henry sighed in frustration. Jigafta smirked. Before Henry or Janet could protest, Jigafta elbowed them both in the temples. The pair was unconscious before they began to slump to the floor.


	24. Chapter 20: From the Ashes

Author's Note: Sorry about the long absence. I meant to have this chapter out in late April, as a commemoration of an entire year of writing this (Yay that happened). But then school ramped up and I had to take a break from writing so I wouldn't fail my finals. After they were finally over, in mid-May, I got the brilliant idea of rewriting the entire fanfic. Mainly this was just because I was extremely unhappy with how I wrote the earlier chapters, but also because I had a few glaring continuity issues I felt I needed to fix. A month and twenty three chapters of rewriting later, I'm finally finished. As of uploading this chapter, I've rewritten every chapter in the entire fanfic. Some rewrites were more extensive than others. Namely, the structuring of the early chapters has been significantly altered. But I feel all were extensive enough for anyone currently reading this who has not already done so to go back and reread the whole thing before continuing (with perhaps the exception of the Foundations bits and chapters 18 and 19. Those rewrites weren't extensive enough to cause any confusion down the line if you don't read them, but there are still changes).

I know this isn't very helpful, especially to people who just got through to this point recently, but the rewrites make the writing smoother, they make the continuity flow better (Especially for Jigafta and his team, whose continuity I thoroughly messed up in the early chapters) and they generally make the early chapters a lot less of a pain to sit through. I strongly recommend you go back and reread the entire fanfic before continuing. And also consider this a warning that, if you don't go back a reread the rewrites, there may be elements of the plot that confuse you as to their origin (assuming you care at this point. If you do, yay! I still have purpose!).

Anyway, enough rambling. Back to the story.

* * *

The instant Smiley's corpse stabbed Fone, the situation rapidly devolved. Fone's body rose into the air and began emitting a blinding light. A few seconds later, that light was accompanied by a sea of heat energy that began to violently pour out from what seemed like the depths of his soul into the physical world in waves of infernal vengeance. The waves cascaded over the army of bones that stood just outside the large hole in the temple wall, melting flesh and metal alike, and burning away even the ground underneath their feet. Fortunately for the occupants of the temple, the inferno was not directed at them, but they felt even the air begin the sear and burn as it continued, and the temperature of the surrounding landscape increased significantly. It was only a matter of time before Fone's destructive force burned the whole city to the ground. As this transpired, everyone inside the temple froze, awestruck by the terrible power and almost comical spontaneity of the event. Even Smiley forgot to finish carrying out Glaian's orders. Only Deyavara persisted undaunted by the sight. He reacted in an entirely different manner. He was overjoyed. As soon as he saw what was happening, he broke into a cacophonous cackle that permeated the room. After more than a minute of unbroken rancor, he dropped to his knees and began shouting in verse.

"A giant stands tall, Ven's legacy razed! The fires of extinction are readily blazed! The shadows of wrath pierce the world! The Successor's mind is forever unfurled! Power ignited awakens the hoard! From the ashes rises the Crystal Lord!" He screamed. The black substance covered his entire body. His eyes began to glow.

Nagratek slammed his fist square into Deyavara's gut with all his might. Deyavara was caught off guard, and was sent flying through the wall of flame emanating from Fone's body and further, beyond the walls of the city. Immediately, Nagratek moved forward with impossible speed and grasped the side of the white mech's cockpit before anyone saw him move. By this time, he too was fully covered by the black substance. Just as Smiley noticed Nagratek was hanging next to him, the fingers of Nagratek's free hand liquefied, and he plunged them into the crystal imbedded in Smiley's face. Black tendrils spread out from his fingers into the crystal, clouding it and turning the structure from blue to black. Nagratek withdrew his fingers. Smiley fell into his arms, unconscious.

Nagratek pulled Smiley out of the cockpit and laid him at Phoney's feet. Glaian stepped out from the white mech's shielding hand to strike Nagratek. Before Glaian could react, Nagratek flicked his forehead. Everyone in the room could hear Glaian's skull crack. He tumbled across the floor of the temple and slammed into what remained of one of the walls. In response, it came down on top of him. Before Thorn, Phoney, Bartleby or Nibet could speak, Nagratek began issuing orders.

"I know none of you know what is going on. But if you don't listen to me and do exactly as I say, you will all die here. Is that clear?" No one responded, but the four conscious mortals in the room gave him their undivided attention. "You all must gather the unconscious, run as fast as you can for the city gates, get on a dropship, and get to the rat creature temple. You will be safer there than here, or most anywhere else. I will remain to stop Deyavara and halt the impending cataclysm. I'll explain everything to you when this is over, assuming we all survive." Immediately, Phoney grabbed Smiley, Nibet picked up X'lish, and Bartleby slung Gran'ma Ben and Rankyne onto his back. Then the three of them ran out of the temple as fast as they could. Thorn, however, didn't move.

"Young Veni-Yan-Cari, you should run while you still can. I refuse to let one of Ven's descendants loose her life because of my hesitance." Nagratek's voice was very different from Jigafta's. Now that he had cast off his false identity, and once again delved into his heightened form, his voice boomed deep with power. Thorn was unimpressed, considering what they day had borne witness to.

"Listen, I don't understand what's going on in the slightest. But what I do know is that Fone is floating and burning the city to the ground. I'm staying to find out why." She grasped her sword once again. As she did so, the rubble piled upon Glaian gave way. He emerged. The front of his forehead bore a large concave indent, but he appeared otherwise unfazed. His eyes still gleamed maliciously. Nagratek gave him a look of pity and annoyance. Before he could rush to end Glaian once and for all, Deyavara launched himself back into the temple from the direction Nagratek has shot him. His limbs and torso had all elongated, adding two feet to his height, his nose had shrunken flat against his face, and the black substance had retracted, revealing that Deyavara's body was constructed entirely out of black crystal. Additionally, black crystal spikes had begun to grow along his arms, his back and his scar. He and Nagratek locked eyes once more.

"If you want to make yourself useful, take care of that abomination for me." Nagratek waved his hand in Glaian's direction. As he spoke, Nagratek's form began to twist and grow to resemble that of Deyavara's. "Make sure it doesn't distract me."

"I think you're definition of abomination needs some serious readjustment." Thorn looked at what Nagratek had become. He didn't react to her sarcasm. She rolled her eyes, pulled her hood over her face, and turned to meet Glaian on the field of battle.

She tentatively focused on the dreaming again. It had become even more chaotic than when she first attempted to fight Glaian. She could barely discern what was going on in the maelstrom, but it seemed as though Fone was radiating pure energy. Massive quantities of the energy were absorbed by Nagratek and Deyavara, but the rest cascaded to and fro, turning the placid river of Dreaming energy one would normally expect to sense into a monsoon of uncontrollable terror. She almost passed out from the shock, but eventually she adjusted to her surroundings. Unfortunately, there wasn't nearly enough positive energy present for her to draw upon to enhance her combat prowess. She had no hope of keeping up with Glaian's movements.

"I hope you aren't just going to stand around with your fingers on your forehead the whole time." Glaian remarked. She unfocused, threw her hood off, and looked him in the eyes. He attempted to smirk, but instead he coughed up a wad of blood that carried with it several of his teeth. "Now that's more like it. Come on. Show me what you can do."

"You should be dead by now. There's no way you could have survived what we've put you through." Thorn unsheathed her sword. Despite his broken state, Glaian still looked like he could kill her with one well-placed strike.

"Your point?" Blood began to pool in one of his eyes.

"You're in no condition to fight. And if you don't surrender now, I'll have to kill you."

"I might not be at my best, but if you can't go full out as a Veni-Yan-Cari, then you have no hope of beating me." He lost his balance and staggered. He managed to stay on his feet by leaning against what was left of the wall he crashed into.

"You can barely stand. Your forehead is caved in."

"Temporary setbacks. Now enough posturing." He found his balance again and steadied himself. Already his bleeding had stopped. "I'm not giving you a choice in the matter anymore." Suddenly, Glaian lunged forward and quickly bridged the gap between them. Thorn's eyes could follow his movements with greater ease than the last time she had seen him in action. He had slowed to the point where her body could start to keep up with them too.

Glaian's arms hung uselessly at his sides as he rushed into combat. In their place, he used his legs to strike out at Thorn's defense. He first attempted a sweeping kick at her abdomen. She blocked it with her free arm, and in response swung her sword at his head. He caught the blade near the handle with his teeth, but only managed to prevent himself from being decapitated. Thorn continued to swing her sword, carrying him with it and slamming him into the ground. The force of the impact severed the muscles that allowed Glaian's jaw to clench shut. It also imbedded the blade of the sword into the hinge joint between his upper and lower jaws, preventing his lower jaw from moving at all. Thorn tried to tug the sword out of his head, but it wouldn't budge.

Glaian capitalized on the momentary distraction. He threw himself upward with such speed Thorn lost her grip on the sword. Just as quickly as he had sprung up, he leapt at her and attempted to slash her throat with the blade of the sword extending from his jaw. As he did so, pain began to shoot through his body. But instead of forcing him to hesitate, the pain only made him more furious. He began to swing the sword wildly, not attempting to hit anything in particular but in a bid to force Thorn into a corner. Thorn was able to dodge his repeated attacks with ease, and the pair of them moved in a circle around their original battlefield. As they moved, Glaian's unfocused attack pattern gave Thorn the opportunity she needed to draw a dagger from her belt.

Wielding the dagger in her dominant hand, she deflected Glaian's most recent blind swing. As soon as Glaian was sent reeling, Thorn stabbed her dagger straight through the part of his lower jaw that made up the joint her sword was stuck in. As it was pierced, his lower jaw began to shatter. She pulled down as hard as she could on the knife, and tore away the right side of Glaian's lower jaw, along with part of his face and neck. She then grabbed the handle of her sword and pulled it free from its prison. With nothing keeping it clenched shut, Glaian's lower jaw dangled off of the side of his upper jaw, holding on only by a few ligaments.

Blood began to gush from the hole Thorn had torn in Glaian's neck, but he didn't slow down. The wound only seemed to make him fight with greater resolve. He leapt up as Thorn tried to swing her sword through his temple. He barely avoided the blade. He then began to bring his foot down in a violent arcing kick on top of Thorn's head. She stepped to the side and threw her knife down into his foot as it descended. The knife tore through his foot and pinned it to the ground. He pulled his foot through the knife, leaving his foot a mangled wreck, and kicked Thorn in the side of her forehead with his other foot at the same time. Thorn staggered back and he rushed in to strike a killing blow. But as he reached her, she regained her balance, and slashed him from his lower chest all the way to his nose with one strike. He was sent flying into the air and landed on his back. Before he could get up, she stabbed her sword in between his ribs and straight through his heart. He stopped breathing. Thorn could see the light fade from his eyes. He was dead.

Thorn sat back in disbelief. She had seen master assassins go up against Glaian and fail, and yet she succeeded in taking him down. She almost congratulated herself. For the first time, she noticed the titanic rumbling occurring behind her as Nagratek and Deyavara clashed. But before she could turn around to observe the clash, she saw something odd. Not with her eyes, but with her mind. She felt the Dreaming begin to contort once again. Energy was flowing in a new direction. Energy was flowing, uncontrollably, into Glaian.

His blood turned black and semi-solid. It began to crawl across his body, engulfing must of his corpse in the same substance that had covered Nagratek and Deyavara. Then the substance reattached his lower jaw to his upper jaw at the same time as he began to breathe again. Immediately after, he began to scream. A small scar at the base of his neck that Thorn hadn't noticed before burst open, and a large black crystal grew out, rapidly covering most of his neck and part of his face. He pulled himself up off the ground, Thorn's sword still straight through his chest.

"Bloody Stars." Thorn muttered as Glaian's screams subsided. She lunged forward and grasped the handle of her sword sticking out of his torso. She tried to pull it out, but it wouldn't budge. Before she could get away, Glaian grabbed her forearm. The black substance had returned his arms to working order as well. She drew her knife and tried to stab his arm to get him to let go, but he grabbed her wrist as well. Before she could shake him off, the black substance began crawling from his hands to her arms. In response, she reflexively kicked Glaian in the stomach. She pulled her foot away before the substance could latch onto her, and the impact carried enough force to knock him back momentarily. In that moment, his grip weakened, and she managed to pull herself from his grasp.

As soon as she broke free, he charged at her. She rolled to the side and, crouching on the ground, cut his Achilles tendon as he ran past. He stumbled and fell to the ground, but in moments he was back up on his feet again, his tendon completely healed. This time, however, he didn't charge. He just stood completely still, as if her were awaiting stimulus of some kind. This puzzled Thorn. She squinted and looked him in the eyes, only to discover that they were half shut and unresponsive. Although he had somehow managed to return to life, he was still unconscious. Dreaming.

Upon realizing this, Thorn got a wild idea. If he was drawing in energy as he slept, he must have been interacting with the Dreaming in some way. Which meant that, if she focused, she could invade his dream and put an end to him, once and for all. Without hesitation, she threw her hood back on and began to focus on the dreaming. She could "see" his mind in the dreaming as a large cloud of eerie silver-black mist. Her mind pushed closer, and she began to feel the pull of his dream. She latched onto it, and began to force her way into his mind. Unfortunately, the modifications Archibald had made to him gave him a measure of defense against intrusion. As soon as Thorn broke into his dream, she felt a sharp pain in the back of her mind. Her mind lashed out as a result, and the energy feedback generated knocked her unconscious, and knocked her and Glaian's physical bodies to the ground.

Thorn shuddered into consciousness. She stood in the middle of a room not quite tall enough for her to stand in, but containing enough width and depth to be considered large. As she looked around, everything about the room began to confuse her. Behind her was a wall made, perplexingly, entirely out of glass windows. The other walls appeared to be some sort of impossibly smooth black-painted stone, and imbedded in the far wall and the one to her right were rectangular wooden doors with round golden handles. Ahead of her, in the middle of the room, was a long wooden desk that played host to a bevy of strange objects she had never seen before. Given the fantastical nature of the room, she could only assume she was in a location somewhere in Fone's native country.

Her assumption proved entirely accurate when a small bone child wearing what appeared to be ceremonial robes burst through the door and ran behind the desk. He didn't seem to notice her. Even as he began looking around frantically, his gaze passed over her without any reaction. At this moment, Thorn realized Glaian wasn't just dreaming about his home country, he was reliving memories from his past as she had done so many times. Thorn approached the young Glaian, and crouched next to him. As she did so, she noticed he was muttering to himself.

"This can't be happening this can't be happening this can't be happening this can't be happening this can't be happening this can't be happening this-" Glaian's breathless whimper was cut short when a loud clang echoed through the room, coming from just on the other side of the door. Instantly Glaian cupped his hands over his mouth to keep any sound from getting out. Thorn, meanwhile, stood up to investigate what had caused the sound.

Almost immediately after Thorn stood up, the door flung open again. This time an adult bone in a long brown overcoat came crashing through, quite literally. He stumbled over himself to get through the door, clutching a bleeding wound on his arm. Not three second after him, a much younger X'lish came through the door wielding a sword, and stabbed it through the man's leg without hesitation. He fell to the floor, writing and howling in agony as she pulled her blade out and stabbed him in his kneecaps, both of his arms, his right shoulder, and his groin. As she mutilated his body, she wore a look of unadulterated glee, as if she enjoyed causing the man pain with every fiber of her being.

"Does that hurt?!" She screamed in his face. He couldn't muster a response through the pain he was feeling, but she didn't care. She laid her sword to the side, picked up his head, and slammed it again the floor. "This is nothing!" She shouted as she slammed his head again the flor again. His screams only got louder. "It's nothing compared to what you did to Viprus!" She slammed his head again. "To Faldr!" As she slammed his head again, his screams fell silent. In response, she picked her sword back up and stabbed him through his left shoulder. He snapped back to consciousness and began screaming again.

"Wake up!" She shouted as she pulled her blade out. "I'm not done with you yet." Just then she straightened up and pressed her finger against the small comms device sitting inside her ear hole.

"What is it, Satranik? I'm busy at the moment." She waited several seconds. Thorn couldn't hear what the person on the other side of the line was saying. Suddenly, she shouted, piercing the uneasy silence that had settled over the room. "He did what?!" X'lish looked at the man's body. "I'm on my way." Then she begrudgingly stood up and ran back through the door.

As soon as she was gone, Glaian left his hiding place behind the desk and scurried to the man's side. He began uncontrollably crying as he witnessed the state the man was in. The man, on the other hand, had stopped screaming, and only took sporadic, shallow breaths. He looked at Glaian with desperate eyes. Piercing eyes. Glaian's sobbing dropped in volume and intensity as the man began to speak.

"Listen well, son." The man rasped. "You must leave this place, and go far away from here. You must live to carry on our mission. One day, our Lord will come for you. He will make the greatest disciple out of you, and together you will free the Crystal Cou-" He broke down in a fit of coughing. Glaian looked confused.

"Father, we need to get you out of here. It isn't safe. She might come back at any moment." Glaian stood up and attempted to drag his father toward the wall of glass. The walls and the ground began to shake uncontrollably.

"It's too late for me. Go, while you still have a chance." His father pleaded with him. The walls began to crack.

"But father…" Glaian was on the verge of crying again.

"Go!" His father shouted. The ceiling began to crack. With tears in the corners of his eyes, Glaian released his father and ran for the glass wall. As he approached it, the middle sections opened up. He ran through. They closed behind him. Thorn began to pursue him, but stopped as the room she was in began to break apart. She looked up at the sprawling web of cracks in the ceiling just as the entire room suddenly gave way and come crashing down. Instinctively, she put up her hands and turned from the oncoming wall of rubble to protect herself.

When she opened her eyes again, she was outside. It was the middle of the day. She stood in a field, and in front of her was the wall of a brick building. Also in front of her were four bones, older than the child version of Glaian she had seen, but not by much. By any standards, they were still children. One was considerably taller than the others, and wore a small blue hat with a yellow band around the middle. Despite his size, the taller one was doubled over on the ground. Standing above him was one of the other, smaller bone children. He stood with a vile look on his face and his foot planted securely on the taller kid's back. The other two stood off to the side, cowering slightly at the actions of the other one.

"Come on, Glaian, he's had enough." One of them admonished hesitantly. "Just let him up already." Glaian shot him the kind of malicious grin only a child can muster.

"Losing your spine so soon?" He asked, mockingly. "You should learn to be more like this freak here." He lifted his leg off of the tall one, bend down next to him, and grabbed his head, dragging it up for the other two to see. He had an over the top grin plastered on his face, despite whatever the three had done to him. Glaian continued talking. "No matter what happens, this guy just keeps on smiling. Isn't that right, Smiley?" He smacked Smiley on the back of the head.

"As long as you wear a smile, everything's going to turn out all right." Smiley muttered, not dropping his innocent smile.

"Did your parents tell you that?" Glaian asked, looking Smiley in the eyes and getting up next to his face. "Well I've got news for you. They're dead!" He began shouting. Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes. "Yours! Your cousins'! Mine! They're all dead, and that isn't going to change!" Smiley's smile didn't fade.

"Back off, you piece of trash!" Someone shouted behind Thorn. Glaian stood up to see who it was, just in time to get hit square on the forehead by a rock. Thorn turned around to see who had thrown it. It was a fifth child. He ran past Thorn and up to the reeling Glaian. Before Glaian could react to anything that was happening around him, the child picked the rock up off the ground and bashed it against Glaian's forehead again. As Glaian lost his balance and hit the ground, his two cohorts scattered. The other kid quickly pounced on Glaian, and began beating him in the head repeatedly with the rock. After a few hits, Glaian's forehead began to bleed profusely. The child didn't stop.

Smileys stood up and gently grabbed his defender's arm. The child looked up. Smiley still had a grin on his face.

"I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it, Phoney. You don't have to get so angry about it all the time." Phoney broke down crying at those words. He stood up and hugged Smiley tight. Just then, the two other kids that ran off came running from around the corner, followed closely by a heavyset bone woman wearing a red dress and with iron-grey hair tied up into a bun. This came as a shock to Thorn because she had never seen a bone of that particular build before.

"Phoncible!" She shouted as she approached the scene. "What is the meaning of this?"

"He didn't mean to do it, Mrs. Crab-Bone. It's all just a big misunderstanding." Smiley commented, with the hint of a smile on his face through the words.

"Misunderstanding, my foot." Mrs. Crab-Bone responded tersely. "Your cousin almost beat this kid to- Hey!" She shouted as Glaian stood up suddenly and took off running away from the scene. Thorn ran after him. "Come back here!" Mrs. Crab-Bone shouted as Glaian ran as far as he could. After he had lost sight of the damage he had wrought, he began to slow his pace. A moment later, a bone in a long coat not unlike his father's stood in his path. Running over his left eye was a long vertical scar.

"Well, you certainly can take a beating better than your father. That should serve you well in the coming years.

"Who are you?" Glaian asked, his forehead still bleeding from the wound Phoney had inflicted. "How did you know my father?"

"You should know perfectly well who I am by now. Your father must have told you I'd find you."

"You're the high Lord?" Glaian asked as he looked the stranger over. "I'm not very impressed."

"Well, I have been considerably reduced. But that isn't important. I'm here to ask you to take up your father's mantle." Glaian thought it over for a moment.

"My father was weak." He asserted.

"And you want to be strong?" The man asked, slightly amused.

"I want more than strength. I want power. Real power. I don't want to be afraid or in pain anymore."

"I can grant you those things. And so many more. But first we need to seek out allies. People who can help me give you that power you so crave. So I'll ask again. Will you take up your father's mantle?" Glaian considered it for another moment.

"No." He decided. "I won't take up his mantle. I'll surpass it. I'll do what he could never even dream of doing. I'll rid this whole country of human stench, from the ground up." The man smiled.

"Good." The man chuckled briefly. "We have a lot of work to do." He began to walk off. Glaian followed him. Thorn started after them, but as she did, the scenery began to change again. This time she was in a small black cave made entirely out of crystal. There were no exits. Imbedded in the wall just in front of her was the adult Glaian. His arms and legs were fused to the wall inside mounds of crystal, but his torso and head remained outside and relatively free and intact. Creeping across his body from where his limbs sank into the wall was the black substance that seemed ubiquitous among nightmare entities. For an instant, the lack of injuries on his body caused Thorn to speculate she was in another memory. Then the barely conscious Glaian locked eyes with her, and she could tell this was him. She had journeyed to her destination: the innermost reaches of his mind.

As soon as he realized who stood before him, he began straining against the crystal that kept him imprisoned. A mixture of shock and unbridled rage cave over him, and he began snarling words at her as he continued to thrash, desperately trying to free himself.

"This shouldn't be possible!" His voice came out as a growl, full of animalistic fury. "You shouldn't be here, you human witch! I surpassed you! I cut you out!" He didn't seem to be screaming at her anymore.

"I'd ask what you mean by that, but at this point I don't really care." She drew her sword and advanced upon his defenseless form. "The things I saw were almost enough to make me pity you. Luckily, you also provided me with a convenient reminder of just what kind of person you are." She raised her sword and placed it against his forehead. "So I'm ending this now, before you kill anyone else I care about."

"You think that because you've managed to exploit my augmentations and trap me here that you've won? You lost this war the second Fone began to overload. I may not live to see it, but the Councilman will be free. And he will burn your kind to dust. But that won't even be the worst of it. No matter what happens next, your beloved Fone will leave you. He will betray you and break you and he will kill you. It is in the nature of his kind to destroy yours. And as you lie bleeding on the ground, as the life fades from your eyes, you will know that your life, your hopes, your dreams, your desire, everything you know and love means nothing in the face of the power of the Councilman's S-" Thorn stabbed her sword straight through his forehead.

"I won't listen to the rantings of a dead psychopath. But I can assure you that no matter what comes next, we will beat whatever your precious Councilman can throw at us." She looked him in the eyes. His form began to fade.

"Arrogant and naïve. I expected nothing less from a human witch." His body faded into nothingness, a smirk still on his face. Thorn felt the world around her begin to crumble. She focused her mind, and freed herself from his dying dream.

* * *

As Thorn began her fight with Glaian, Nagratek and Deyavara initiated their final confrontation.

"Can you feel that power, Nagratek?" Deyavara asked, practically exploding with joy. "I've never felt such a concentrated level of energy. Not even father could boast this level of unbridled power." He closed his eyes, reveling in the power coursing through his body. "Look at us, even in our most powerful form we still can't contain it all." He opened his eyes again and turned to face Nagratek. "Standing here, at the cusp of father's reawakening, I can't think of a more perfect setting for our final battle. Don't you agree?" Nagratek stared back at him, unmoved.

"He isn't free yet, Deyavara. And I intend to keep it that way." In a flash, Nagratek crossed the distance between them. He struck out with his hand at Deyavara's face. Deyavara caught the strike, and returned one of his own. Nagratek ducked underneath it and slammed his knee into Deyavara's gut. Before Deyavara could counter, Nagratek slammed his forehead into Deyavara's, knocking the latter several feet into the ground.

The force of Deyavara's impact turned the stone in his path to dust, creating a substantial could that settled over the crater he sat in. Before Nagratek could clear it away, Deyavara shot out of it and stabbed Nagratek through the shoulder with his arm, which he had reformed into a crude blade. The two of them flew through the air and smashed into what was left of the ceiling. As they fell, black tendrils extended from the arm in Nagratek's shoulder and attached themselves to various points on his torso. In response, Nagratek liquefied his free arm and reformed it as a blade was well. Using it, he cut off the arm Deyavara had run him through with and kicked Deyavara's torso away from him. Both of them hit the ground a dozen feet apart.

As the pair stood up to go another round, Nagratek morphed his blade arm back to normal and used it to pull out the severed arm still in his shoulder. As he held it in his hand, it liquefied. Immediately, he absorbed it into his being.

"So that's your grand scheme?" Deyavara asked as he morphed his remaining arm into a blade. "Cut me up and devour me piece by piece? Like you tried to do to my son?" Deyavara's missing arm began to regrow and form a blade as well. "Well, I'm sorry to say it won't work. We've both got too much juice running through our systems for our own good anyway."

"You're son was never in any danger. I was just making sure he didn't have to live with our curse." Both of Nagratek's arms mimicked Deyavara's. The pair of combatants leapt into the air and collided their blades. "I wanted him to live his own life, if he ever got the chance."

"You see, that's the difference between you and me." Deyavara pushed off of Nagratek while they were in the air and landed on the ground. He then immediately jumped up again and slammed into Nagratek's descending form. "I don't suffer from that disease you call freedom. I will make sure my son doesn't either."

"Your son is dead! Glaian made sure of that!" Nagratek shouted as the two rocketed skyward one more. Right as they reached the apex of their arc, Deyavara turned one of his arms to normal and grabbed Nagratek's. He then tried to swing Nagratek around and send him back toward the ground. Nagratek quickly liquefied the arm that was grabbed, pulling himself free from Deyavara's grip. He then simultaneously solidified it again as soon as it slipped past Deyavara's fingers and slammed his foot into Deyavara's chest.

As Deyavara impacted the ground, Nagratek descended right behind him. As he fell, Nagratek attempted to drive his blade through the top of Deyavara's skull. At the last second, Deyavara blocked the strike with his own blade, driving him into the ground several inches.

"Neither of us are capable of dying in the traditional sense." He mused as he used his own arm to move Nagratek's blade aside and expose his chest. "That same resilience transferred, to some degree, to my son. I think you'll find it would take more than a simple knife in the gut to take him down." Deyavara reared back his free arm in preparation to impale Nagratek's stomach. Before he could let his arm fly, however, Nagratek stuck his own free arm just below where Deyavara's navel should have been. As Deyavara stared at the wound, mildly annoyed, Nagratek pulled his arm up through Deyavara's entire body, splitting him in two.

Immediately, Deyavara's body began to sew itself back up with tendrils of black liquid. But before it could, Nagratek reverted one of his blades back to a hand and slammed the palm against Deyavara's partially reconstructed stomach. As he flew through the air, Deyavara finished putting himself back together. But before he could change his trajectory, he collided with Fone in midair. The fire spreading from Fone's skin abruptly died out, and both he and Deyavara fell from the sky.

"Too little, too late." Deyavara smirked as he landed next to Fone's unconscious body. As Nagratek rushed forward to strike Deyavara again, the ground began to shake, knocking the pair off their feet. The earthquake knocked down the remaining standing ruins of the temple, leaving only heaping piles of stone. Nagratek and Deyavara stood once more as they grew accustomed to the shaking. On the horizon, past the Dragon's Stair, a massive storm could began to form.

"It appears you have failed, Nagratek." Deyavara began to laugh. "Father is here. And you cannot stop him."

"Don't hold your breath, Deyavara. The process isn't complete. And I have contingencies. Now, let's see how long you can last without Fone's surplus energy keeping you going." Nagratek launched himself forward to attempt to impale Deyavara again. Instead, Deyavara sidestepped his attack and stabbed him straight through the chest.

"Longer than you, apparently." Deyavara chuckled as he bent down to absorb Nagratek's energy. Suddenly, Nagratek liquefied entirely. Before Deyavara realized what was happening, Nagratek's liquid body wrapped itself around Deyavara's neck, back, and waist. Then the liquid solidified back into Nagratek, who split Deyavara into three pieces: His head, his upper body, and his lower body. As the three chunks fell to the ground, Nagratek almost breathed a sigh of relief. Then the pieces all liquefied and began putting themselves back together.

"That was a clever gambit." Deyavara commented as his jaw reformed. "Expose yourself, trap me, and isolate my processing centers from the rest of my body. Unfortunately for you, I had just enough time to redistribute myself before you hacked me to pieces."

"A luxury you will not be afforded going forward." Nagratek rushed forward and tried to stab Deyavara with both of his blades. At the last second, Deyavara brought his arms up and caught Nagratek's blades, moving them to the side. Immediately, Nagratek tried to kick Deyavara in his ribcage. As Nagratek's leg collided with Deyavara's torso, Deyavara liquefied the area of contact so Nagratek's leg passed harmlessly through him. When the leg was part of the way into his chest, Deyavara solidified and Nagratek's leg was stuck.

Nagratek then used his remaining leg to jump into the air, knocking Deyavara off balance and his body behind him. As Nagratek returned to the ground, he slammed Deyavara into one of the large piles of rubble where the walls of the temple used to be. Upon impact, Nagratek morphed his blades into large square bludgeons, and began mercilessly pummeling Deyavara's face. During the descending arc of one of his blows, Deyavara stabbed one of his blades through Nagratek's bludgeon and another in his shoulder.

As Deyavara began to drain Nagratek's energy, Nagratek morphed his bludgeons back into hands, freeing the impaled one of Deyavara's blade. Immediately he grabbed Deyavara's free blade and, pulling with all his might, tore the arm from its socket. He then used it to sever the arm impaled in his shoulder at the elbow, and used his free hand to pull that blade form him as well.

Wielding both of Deyavara's arms as weapons, Nagratek reared back to resume his barrage of strikes. As he did so, both of Deyavara's arms liquefied and splashed to the ground. Nagratek stooped down to absorb as much of them as he could before the liquid slinked back into Deyavara's body. In that time, Deyavara turned the edge of the circular hole in his torso into a blade and contracted it, cutting Nagratek's leg off at the knee. Nagratek lost his balance and fell to the ground. Instantly Deyavara absorbed the leg into himself and stood up. His arms had begun to reform themselves, but were not yet large enough to wield effective blades. Instead, he transformed one of his own legs into a blade and raised it to stab Nagratek through the neck.

Before he could, however, Nagratek used his remaining leg to sweep Deyavara's feet out from under him. As he fell over, Nagratek morphed one of his hands back into a bludgeon and brought it down on the side of Deyavara's head, causing his temple and jaw to cave in. Reflexively, Deyavara lashed out with his newly formed arm blades, stabbing Nagratek in both shoulders and throwing him back several feet. As the pair recovered, they began to revert to their Bone forms.

"Running out of fuel, Nagratek?" Deyavara panted.

"I could say the same to you." Nagratek responded, clutching his shoulder. "It seems neither of us have the energy left to maintain our heightened forms."

"Perfect." Deyavara spat. "Now we can end this, once and for all." He rushed forward. Nagratek did the same. They moved at considerably lower speeds now that they had reverted to their more limited bodies, but they still moved considerably faster than even Glaian or Thorn.

As they ran at each other, fists poised to strike another series of blows, a great pillar of light erupted on the horizon from the direction of the Dragon's Stair and the Great Wastes beyond. Accompanying the light was a sudden stop in the tremors that had been rumbling since the Councilman's awakening. When Deyavara realized this, he stopped dead in his tracks.

"What did you do?" He whispered as he stared at the light. Suddenly he boiled with rage. He turned to Nagratek's oncoming form. "What did you-" His building shout was cut off by Nagratek's fist slamming into his face. Deyavara flew back, reeling with shock. Before he could recover, Nagratek caught up to him and slammed him into the ground. Nagratek continued to pummel him until he had beat his body into a crater several feet deep. Before Deyavara could recover, Nagratek picked him up, grasping his head in between his hands, and dragged him out of the crater.

"You think this is over?" Deyavara began to laugh as Nagratek squeezed his hands together, slowly cracking Deyavara's skull. "You think you've won? You have achieved nothing but a brief postponement of the inevitable. Father will overcome whatever parlor trick of a "contingency" you've employed, and when he does his grand design will finally come to fruition. You may destroy me, but you cannot undo the plan I set in motion. You cannot save Mon'Yaran's puppets from extinction, and you cannot keep the Successor from his destiny. Whatever you do next, know that-" Deyavara's words crumbled as Nagratek split his head in half with the force of an artillery round, shattering his skull and reducing his brain to paste.

Nagratek sat down on a small pile of rubble as Deyavara's body slumped to the floor. Immediately, it began to slowly piece itself back together. Nagratek stuck his hand in the black liquid to absorb Deyavara once and for all.

"Allow me." Nagratek heard a voice behind him. He whirled around, expecting another fight, but staring him in the face was Shard's lopsided, crystalline smile.

"By all means." Nagratek responded as Shard bent down and touched the surface of the black pool Deyavara's face was slowly reforming in. "It's not like I fought him alone, without backup of any kind."

"Oh will you quit whining? I've had bigger problems to deal with than your mistakes come back to bite us." Shard's hands began to glow and absorb the black liquid from Deyavara's corpse.

"Yeah like what? This seems like it would take priority." Nagratek motioned around him at the massive piles of rubble. Deyavara's body began to shrivel up.

"Over the release of every Nightmare Entity left? I very much doubt it." Shard shot back over his shoulder.

"Wait, they all got loose?" Nagratek threw up his arms. "What happened? Where'd they all go?"

"Their prisons just burst all of a sudden. All at once too. They caught me by surprise, but I was able to fend them off. Unfortunately, I lost them as they headed for the Valley. I think they were headed toward Pawa, but I can't be-" Suddenly Shard began to scream violently. He threw his hands up and backed away from Deyavara's cadaver.

"What now?" Nagratek asked as Shard rubbed his hands.

"I got a lot of feedback after I finished eating. I think it was meant at a last ditch attempt to kill you if you ever got the best of him, but I managed to work around it."

"So… That's it then? He's gone?" Nagratek raised an eyebrow.

"Yup. I absorbed every last drop of Deyavara's soul. No need to thank me or anything."

"Did you learn anything helpful?"

"Back off will you?" Shard closed his eyes and began to concentrate. "It'll take time to sort through it all. In the meantime, you might want to figure out how to progress with the Successor without the Cipher." Shard waved his hand in Fone's direction. "Or maybe you could explain yourself to the young Veni-Yan-Cari." Shard nodded at Thorn just as she began to wake up.

The first thing that hit her after she regained consciousness was the smell. Before she saw Shard and Nagratek talking over Deyavara's body, or the flattened, shriveled husk of a corpse Glaian had become, or even Fone lying unconscious in front of the mangled field of melted flesh and steel Glaian's army had become, she noticed the lingering smell of burning flesh. It singed her nostrils as she sat up, and before her vision had cleared she scrambled to her feet and began throwing up next to one of the piles of rubble. Only after she had managed to compose herself was she able to take in everything around her. When it seemed like she had had enough time to realize the situation, Nagratek approached her. In response, she pulled her blade from Glaian's stomach and pointed it at his face.

"Jigafta, what the hell is going on?" She took a step back as he approached.

"Easy there, Thorn. Easy." He assured her as he slowly put his hands out in front of him. "Lower the sword and calm yourself. I'm not going to hurt you."

"I'm not doing jack until you start explaining yourself, Jigafta. I think I'm owed at least that."

"Ok, first of all my name isn't Jigafta Utenki, it's Nagratek."

"But if you're Nagratek, then…" She lowered her sword as realization dawned on her. "Gabriel was right. The bones did come from the Valley."

"Yes, I suppose that is technically true. Though I have no idea why anyone would know that. Anyway that's not the point. I will explain everything, but I'd rather not do it a bunch of times, so you're going to have to wait until we can get everyone together in one place before I spill the beans."

"Well, can you at least tell me what happened here? Or who that is?" Thorn pointed at Shard, who had become absorbed in his own thoughts.

"Oh, that's Shard. He's a First Folk friend of mine from way back in the day. Don't worry, he's on our side. As we speak, he's analyzing Deyavara's memories for any useful information."

"Wait, analyzing Deyavara's memories? He can just do that?"

"It's the only surefire way to kill a Nightmare Entity like Deyavara, or me for that matter."

"A nightmare what now?"

"Nightmare Entity. I'll explain later. But in essence, unless a very specific set of people absorbs our souls, we can't die. Shard happens to number among that set because of his… unique condition."

"This isn't helping." Thorn sighed as she sat down. "Everything you say just makes me more confused."

"I know, but you asked. Anyway, you should probably do something useful instead." Nagratek sat beside her. As soon as he sat down, however, Breshet descended from the sky and landed next to Shard. Closely behind her came the remaining members of the Sky Legion. Four of them had a massive blue crystal almost as big as the Great Red Dragon strung between them with a leather harness and ropes. "Like, attending to Fone, for instance." Nagratek got up and walked over to Breshet.

"How did it go?" He asked as he approached Breshet helping her men unto the leather straps around the crystal.

"As good as can be expected." She responded. "He's wounded. Heavily. He may even lack a physical form at the moment. But I'm sure he survived. He's survived worse."

"Well, hopefully he's down for the count right now, because we have more pressing matters to attend to."

"Shard already told me." The dragons undid the last of the straps and the large crystal thudded against the ground. "By the way, we overclocked the Cipher during the attack. It's spent. I doubt it'll even begin to recover before this is over."

"We wouldn't have had the time to collect enough energy anyway. I had planned on redistributing the substance from the beginning." Nagratek commented as he approached the Cipher. From within his body he produced the golden necklace.

"Don't tell me you're going to use it to bring her back?" Breshet sighed as Nagratek placed it against the Cipher's surface. "I can't believe you'd be willing do desecrate her soul to that degree. Trapping it in that necklace was one thing, but this? Bringing back the dead? That's Nightmare territory." Nagratek began muttering some words as Thorn approached cradling Fone's unconscious body in her arms.

"He out cold, but he's breathing." She commented as she stood next to Breshet and Nagratek. "His wound also seems to have healed."

"Good." Nagratek said as he backed away from the Cipher. "Now I'm going to need you to get on Breshet's back." Both Thorn and Breshet gave Nagratek disapproving looks. "What?" He shrugged. "We'll be going to the rat creature temple shortly to meet up with Phoncible." Thorn sighed and swung herself and Fone onto Breshet's back.

"What's stopping us from leaving now?" Thorn asked.

"We have to wait for the process to complete." Nagratek responded.

"What process?"

"I'm done." Shard stood up, returning to reality. "With his memories anyway. I still have yet to make sense of what shards of my own were in there, but I think we've finally hit something substantial."

"Shard's done. Can we go now?" Thorn asked.

"We're leaving?" Shard asked.

"In a minute. Hop on a dragon." Nagratek responded, ignoring Thorn's question.

"Can we just leave and get to the part where you explain what's happening? What is so important that we need to wait around?" Thorn was almost shouting. Then the Cipher began to glow. It emitted a blinding flash of light. A moment later, a young middle aged red haired human woman was lying naked on the ground where it once stood.

"That's what we were waiting for." Nagratek said excitedly, more to himself than to Thorn. "Give me your cloak." Nagratek stretched out his hand to Thorn without looking at her. Reluctantly, she slipped her cloak off and handed it to him. With the green garment in hand, he strode over to the woman, who was beginning to sit up.

"Here." He said as he offered her the cloak. "It's not much, but it's the best we can do until we get to the temple.

"Thanks." She responded as she put the cloak on. She closed her eyes for a moment and took in a deep breath. "Let's go." She and Nagratek walked over to another dragon and swung themselves on.

"You heard the woman." Nagratek commented as the Sky Legion began to take off. "To the temple."

"Good to have you back, Ven." Shard nodded his head at the woman as his dragon lifted into the sky.

"Thanks, Shard. It's good to finally be able to move again." She responded as the entire Legion took to the skies.

"Wait, Ven?" Thorn asked, reeling from yet another strange development. "As in Ven Harvester, the first human Queen?"

"Yup." Nagratek laughed as the dragons flew through the skies toward the temple. "And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Strap yourself in, kid. Everything you thought you knew is about to get flipped on its head."

* * *

Archibald stood alone in the middle of a large stone room with a vaulted ceiling and massive stone columns spanning the length of the room on either side. Around the room, high tech sensors and monitors were all pointed toward the one object of note: the nearly twenty foot tall glowing blue crystal Archibald had dubbed "The Chrysalis". He stood next to in, one hand leaning against it and another grasping a handheld voice recorder.

"This is Chrysalis experiment log 57-A." He spoke into the recorder. "I'm making this log as an addendum to today's experiment because… Something quite astonishing is happening. About twenty minutes ago, as I was taking a midnight walk around the temple, the entire camp suddenly lost power. I did my best to search for the cause of the blackout without waking anyone, but as of now that seems to be the least of my concerns. When I entered the temple to check the equipment for damage, I was astonished to find that the Chrysalis had begun to emit an eerie blue light. I only wish the rest of the equipment was still functioning, as I suspect the data we would be able to collect would be amazing. Even just by observing it, I can tell that…" Archibald trailed off as he felt the ground begin to shake.

Suddenly, the Chrysalis began to crack. Then the shaking grew more pronounced until it felt like the earth itself was moving. The temple began to collapse. Two red eyes opened inside the Chrysalis, bathing Archibald in a flood of red light. The Chrysalis's glowing became more intense. He scrambled out of the structure as the ceiling caved in, throwing up a large cloud of dust. The only thing Archibald could see through the cloud were the red, glowing eyes.

As the dust began to settle, the rest of the camp burst to life. Bones were scrambling to and fro trying to figure out what was going on. Only Archibald, frozen with awe, noticed the figure standing in the middle of the now destroyed temple.

It was more or less humanoid, thought it was made entirely out of blue crystal and stood over fifteen feet tall. Its fingers were very long, almost to the point of being claws, and it had small, jagged protrusions growing from the end of its elbows. Its face lacked any defining features, save for a pointed chin, and on top of its head was a series of jagged crystal peaks. The most unnerving aspect by far, though, was its glowing red eyes. They stared straight at Archibald. Straight through him. Instantly Archibald knew that this was the Crystal Councilman.

Then the Councilman raised its arms up to the sky. The earth began to shake once more, and a great whirlwind began to form around the Councilman, which quickly expanded to cover the entire camp. Then the storm began sucking up everything that wasn't nailed down. As Archibald was lifted into the sky by the winds, he frantically began grasping for something to hold onto. He came up short, and was carried higher and higher into the ever expanding cloud as he was tossed around by the whirlwind. Eventually, he was carried close enough to the eye of the storm that he could barely make out the moon in the sky. As he began to lose consciousness from the intense g-forces, he thought he could see the silhouettes of flying creatures far above the storm cloud.

Then there was a bright flash in the sky. It was so bright it outshone every star. So bright the even the Councilman took notice. He stared at it for a moment, then brought his hands close together. The space between his hands began to glow and emit crackling bursts of energy. Then, without warning, a blindingly bright column of energy from the sky tore through the eye of the storm, forcing the Councilman to the ground. He raised his arms to protect himself, but the stream of energy only continued to grow in intensity, slowly eating away at the Councilman's body and the ground around him.

Instantly, the whirlwind dissipated. Without the winds keeping everything up, almost the entire camp came crashing back to the ground. As Archibald fell, the Councilman reached out his hand and, with the last of his energy, slowed Archibald's descent and brought him next to the energy cascading over the Councilman's body. As the concentrated energy began to burn Archibald's skin, the Councilman touched Archibald's forehead.

Archibald began to scream, assaulted by the combination of the energy beam burning his skin and the Councilman's ministrations. Images and sounds flashed through Archibald's head and disappeared just a quickly before he could make sense of them. His eyes began to glow. Then he passed out from the pain. The Councilman's eyes dimmed as the last of his body dissolved. The beam then abruptly cut out, leaving a several foot scorched indentation in the desert sand as the only proof it had existed at all.

The air was quiet for a time. Nothing living remained in the wreckage of the camp. Bodies and equipment were strewn about in a field of rubble, and already the desert sands whipped up in the wake of the storm had begun to cover them. As the sun began to peak over the horizon, however, something began to move. It was Archibald.

He sat up as dawn broke overhead, sand cascading down his chest. He looked at his surroundings for a moment, and then began to examine his own body. After he was satisfied with what he saw, he stood up and brushed himself off.

"It'll do for now." He commented to himself. After one last visual check of his surroundings, he began walking toward the mountains in the distance. As he set off, his eyes began emitting a faint red glow.


	25. Chapter 21: The Watchful Eye

Fone was floating in an ocean of blackness. He couldn't see anything, nor could he feel his own body. The only thing that let him know he was still alive was the whispering all around him. It was just loud enough that he could hear it, but not loud enough that he could make out what was being said. He strained his ears to try to make some sense out of the whispers, but his effort proved mostly fruitless. All he could make out was the word "Catalyst."

"He's waking up!" The words cut through the darkness, driving the whispers away and bringing Fone back to his senses. Slowly, he began to feel the sensation of his muscles stirring, and his eyes began to open. He was lying on a cot in a medical tent. Thorn, Phoney, and Jigafta all stood in the tent as well. Thorn was next to his cot, grasping his hand. Phoney was sitting in a chair on the other side of the room. And Jigafta was standing by the tent flap, staring at Fone with a look that Fone could only describe as angry. It was the first time he had ever seen Jigafta angry at anything.

"Finally." Phoney commented as he stood up. "We can get this over with."

"He woke up too quickly." Jigafta commented. "We aren't out of the woods yet."

"Are you capable of any emotion besides cryptic?" Thorn snapped back at him.

"Thorn, what's going on?" Fone asked as he sat up, drawing everyone's attention. "Where are we?"

"What do you remember about the temple?" Jigafta interjected.

"What?" Fone responded.

"Answer the question." Phoney crossed his arms. "The faster we get this over with, the faster we get a real explanation."

"I don't know what you want, but I…" Fone trailed off, trying to think back to what had just happened. Suddenly, as he recalled what had transpired, he screamed and clutched his chest where Smiley had stabbed him. "Smiley…" He began panting. "What happened…? I…"

"Smiley's fine." Thorn tried to reassure him. "We have him restrained and under guard until we can figure out how to fix him."

"But… He stabbed me. Shouldn't I be dead?"

"You're alive." Jigafta said as he approached the other side of Fone's bed. "And I'll explain how in a minute. But first, tell me what you remember after that."

"After Smiley stabbed me? I can't recall anything... Except the sun, I think."

"Well, that's not helpful." Jigafta sighed as he walked over to the tent's flap. "You can join us when you're feeling up to it. We'll be starting the briefing soon." He walked out of the tent. Phoney followed him, not looking Fone in the eyes.

"Thorn, what just happened?"

"You've been out almost six hours." Thorn explained as she let go of his hand and sat down in the chair Phoney was sitting in a moment ago. "In that time, we killed Glaian and Deyavara, subdued Smiley, and somehow managed to prevent the Crystal Councilman from attaining his full power after he woke up, though Nagratek still hasn't explained what happened."

"Nagratek?" Fone asked as he swung himself off of the cot. "Who's Nagratek?"

"Right, you missed that. Jigafta's real name is apparently Nagratek. And it turns out Gabriel was right about where the Bones came from too."

"So, you're telling me Jigafta is three thousand years old?"

"Apparently so. I'm still not totally sure what's going on, but that's about all I know." Thorn got up and headed for the tent flap. "Oh." She stopped. "Also, Jigafta has a First Folk friend named Shard and used an amulet and a giant crystal to resurrect Ven."

"Ven?" Fone began walking for the tent flap as well. "As in Ven Harvester, the first human queen?"

"I think so." They both walked outside. "I'm still processing what's happening. A lot is still unclear."

"Well, it's about to get a whole lot clearer." Nagratek commented as the two of them emerged from the tent. Standing outside, arranged in a big circle around Nagratek, were Phoney, Bartleby, Gran'ma Ben, X'lish, Nibet, Rankyne, Sybron, Breshet, the Great Red Dragon with Ted perched on his shoulder, a red haired woman Fone vaguely recognized as Ven, and a walking human crystal that, by process of elimination, must have been Shard.

"Ted?" Fone asked as he and Thorn merged into the circle. "When did you get here?"

"He was waiting for us when we got back." Phoney said. He still wouldn't look Fone straight on.

"I came back to warn y'all about th' hiccup at the gate, but by th' time I arrived, you'd already split fer Atheia." Ted spoke, jumping in his usual excited manner.

"Thank you." Nagratek interrupted. "Now, if there are no more distractions, we can get this underway."

"Get what underway?" Fone asked.

"An explanation." Nagratek responded. "For starters, my name is Nagratek, and these are my associates. You already know Breshet. The two next to me," Nagratek motioned to Shard and Ven. "Are Shard, of the First Folk, and Queen Ven Harvester." Everyone in the circle immediately began to ask questions, but Nagratek cut them off.

"Everything will be explained shortly, but for now just listen to what I have to say. The four of us, along with Deyavara before he betrayed us, founded an organization three thousand years ago to keep the world safe from the forces that are trying to destroy it. And we have waged a war in the shadows ever since, keeping the world in balance by a hair's breadth. Now, that war appears to be coming to a head. So, if you want to continue, you all are going to have to join our organization, do as we say, and help us ensure that, when the time comes to end our war, the world isn't destroyed in the process." Everyone around the room nodded. "Good." Nagratek clapped his hands together. "You are all now officially members of the Vedu."

"What!" Gran'ma Ben exclaimed. "The Vedu? As in Tarsil's mercenaries? You can't be serious."

"Tarsil and his gang of thugs were not true members of the Vedu." Shard responded. "I exiled him from our order over twenty-five years ago for his radical ideas. He took all of our human members with him, and started a campaign to destroy the dragons. You know how well that worked out for him."

"Your human members?" Sybron asked. "You mean the Vedu existed outside of the Venu monks?"

"We still exist." Breshet interjected. "Our few remaining members, other than the people in this circle, are the Sky Legion and a handful of other dragons. We had other members among the First Folk, but they were all slaughtered at the hands of the Nacht."

"Anyway, the point is that the Vedu you know is not who we are." Nagratek continued. "We are the only people left in this world who know what's really happening."

"And what is happening?" Phoney asked, growing more frustrated as the whole affair dragged on.

"It's… complicated, to say the least. So I suppose the best place to start would be the beginning: Before the physical universe, what the people of the Valley call the Waking World, came into existence, an immaterial bed of energy was all that existed. And while it was not alive in the traditional sense, it possessed a kind of intelligence, an awareness of its own existence. It would not be entirely inaccurate to refer to this energy field as a god, or at least the closest thing to a god that has ever existed.

"We don't know how long it was around, or if it was ever not around, but we do know that at some point there was a ripple in the field of energy. We don't know if it was caused by something or just simply happened, but this ripple, this excitation, quickly spread over the entirety of existence.

"Out of this ripple came physical matter, exploding in all directions out of this field of energy. On either side of the field, this matter coalesced into two distinct universes. The people outside the Valley call this event the big bang, the people here refer to it as the separation of the Dreaming and Waking Worlds. This side is the Waking World, the other side the Dreaming World. Separating them is the field of energy they had originated from, which in its reduced state we call the Dreaming.

"I say reduced state because, after the rippling occurred, its consciousness was transferred into two small golden crystals, one in each universe. We call these the Sparks, and the intelligences locked within them perceive the physical universe as a flaw that they must correct. To this end, the Sparks have each pursued their own strategy with the ultimate goal of reuniting their respective universes with the Dreaming.

"In the Waking World, the Spark created Mim, the first dragon, as a conduit for its power and an assistant in building life. Its plan was to create a vast array of living beings that would thrive off of the energy of the Dreaming, and in turn broadcast their own energy back into the Dreaming as they slept. He would draw upon that energy continuously, growing ever more powerful until he had enough to jump start a chain reaction that would convert all matter into Dreaming energy.

"Together, Mim and the Spark built a thriving world. But Mim began to grow increasingly attached to her creations, especially humans, their greatest creation and the Spark's greatest source of energy. Her attachment would eventually lead her to betray her creator when she learned that the Spark had designed the humans with a crippling failsafe. If they were ever separated from the dreaming energy, their bodies would warp and tear themselves apart. After all, the Spark had no need of servants that could not contribute to his cause.

"Appalled by the level of cruelty the Spark showed in his design, Mim grew increasingly disillusioned with his mission. Until one day, when her love of her creations outweighed her duty to her creator, she rose up against the Spark and shattered it with her bare hands. After it broke into several pieces, she buried each piece deep underground so that no one could put it back together again. Then she created a race of reptilian children, the Dragons, to serve as agents of her will and guardians of her realm. However, she purposely didn't inform any of her children of the true nature of the Spark, or of reality, for fear they might overthrow her like she had done to her creator.

"In the Dreaming World, however, the other Spark had much better luck. Instead of creating one singular being to serve as its conduit, it created a race of immaterial beings who inhabited the Dreaming and possessed bodies made of inanimate or non-sentient material. These were the First Folk. Together, they built massive crystalline machines designed to store and magnify dreaming energy, and eventually succeeded in turning their entire universe into Dreaming energy, merging it with the Dreaming itself to form the construct the people of the Valley currently understand the Dreaming World to be.

"When the Dreaming World's Spark finally rejoined the Dreaming, it looked out into the Waking World and saw the fate that had befallen its counterpart. Determined to snuff out all of reality, no matter the cost, it gathered up all the energy it could and tore a hole between the Dreaming and the Waking World. In the process, it destroyed many of the First Folk, leaving only a few thousand remaining. Weakened by the process, it merged itself with a First Folk named Mon'Yaran, the first of its creations, and went into hibernation. It left behind orders instructing Mon'Yaran to find, reassemble, and assist its counterpart in converting the Waking World.

"Mon'Yaran led the few thousand remaining First Folk through the portal, and emerged in an underground chamber inhabited by Dragons. They greeted the Dragons as friends, and claimed to be spirits from the Dreaming here to help the Waking World flourish. Mim and the Dragons tentatively accepted their offer of friendship, and slowly forged an alliance between the two peoples.

"Secretly, Mon'Yaran plotted against Mim and the Dragons. Soon, however, he found he lacked the power to attempt to destroy them in a conventional war. So he instructed a group of his greatest scientific minds, including Shard and led by Mon'Yaran's brother, to forge a weapon capable of destroying Mim. After decades of experimenting with the effects of negative emotions on the Dreaming, they were able to bundle together all of the negative energy generated by the First Folk during their destruction at the hands of their Spark, creating a titanic and powerful hive-mind entity known as the Lord of the Locust.

"Mon'Yaran unleashed the Locust on Mim, driving her mad and forcing the Dragons to imprison her and the Locust within stone, forming the Valley and reducing much of the continent to an uninhabitable desert. In order to keep the Locust locked away, Mon'Yaran used the immense power of the Spark contained within his soul to contort the flow of the dreaming, focusing all of the Dreaming's coverage of the continent into the newly formed Valley, depriving the rest of the continent of Dreaming energy and cutting Mon'Yaran off from the Dreaming of the rest of the universe. The process was so taxing on his soul that he nearly died, and his soul became tied to a large crystalline structure that the First Folk grew around the portal, cutting off physical travel between the Dreaming and the Waking Worlds, and making Mon'Yaran's soul the anchor point for the Dreaming's influence. This crystal structure is what you all know as the Crown of Horns.

"Mon'Yaran's actions had two unintended side effects. Because of the heightened Dreaming presence in the Valley, many animals were suddenly granted higher brain functions normally only seen in humans and Hairy Men. The other side effect was much less beneficial. While the various Atheian and Pawan clans began to inhabit the Valley, which the First Folk had begun filling with plant and animal life shortly after the mountains cooled, there was another clan of humans on the continent who became trapped outside the Dreaming when Mon'Yaran created his prison for the Locust. They were called the Morudagni, and they were all but wiped out by the effects the loss of Dreaming Energy had on their bodies.

"As the entire Morudagni people suffered in the desert, Mon'Yaran's brother and his fellow scientists began to doubt whether Mon'Yaran's actions could be justified, and in turn questioned why Mim's creations had to be sacrificed for the sake of the Spark's goals. The group came to calling themselves the Awoken Council, and Mon'Yaran's brother took the mantle of the Crystal Councilman, the leader of the Council.

"Turning their backs on Mon'Yaran's leadership and pledging themselves to protecting what Mim had created, they moved from the Valley to the former Morudagni heartland. Once there, they began to undertake experiments to save the Morudagni from extinction and prevent Mon'Yaran's plan from coming to pass.

"Through years of research, the Council was able to alter the Morudagni so they could survive outside the Dreaming while remaining essentially human. This inflicted them with an ailment referred to as the Black Dreaming Eye, severely limiting the amount of energy they could draw from the Dreaming when in contact with it, and slowly morphing the Morudagni into the Bone people over successive generations.

"I lead the other experiments," Shard took over the storytelling, "With the goal of developing an array of means to banish or destroy Mon'Yaran's soul. Eventually, we were able to develop a device capable of erasing anything's soul from the Dreaming entirely. Mon'Yaran's brother was unsure of its abilities, and created a backup plan called the Extinction Drives: a series of nodes that would broadcast a frequency of energy throughout the Dreaming capable of killing anything connected to it as a means of depriving Mon'Yaran of his fuel source.

"Once I learned of his intentions, I was appalled that he would be willing to destroy Mim's creations in order to protect them. When I confronted him about the Extinction Drives, he attacked me, claiming I was too weak willed to carry out our mission. During our battle, he shattered my soul into many fragments. I barely survived. After gathering up what pieces of my soul he could find, he merged them with fragments of the Lord of the Locust's soul. He would later combine the fragments with large masses of crystal to create beings called Falsely Oneiric Nightmare Entities.

"Which Is what I am." Nagratek returned to speaking. "A Falsely Oneiric Nightmare Entity, or just Nightmare Entity for short, is, in essence, a sleeper agent. They are beings born with two souls: An inner soul and an outer soul. The inner soul is filled with orders and enough functionality to allow the Nightmare Entity to carry them out. The outer soul is created empty, but filled with a soul the Nightmare Entity steals from a host being. Wearing that outer soul as their own, the Nightmare Entity exists as whoever it replaced without any memory of its original programming. It only activates when it receives a specific signal via the Dreaming, which forces it to cast off its outer soul, reassume its original programming, and carry out its orders, be they assassination or sabotage. That having been said, the Councilman didn't create Nightmare Entities right away.

"After he fragmented Shard, the Councilman began setting a plan in motion to destroy Mon'Yaran. The early stages involved doing experiments on himself and the Morudagni in order to create a force capable of matching the dragons. He created a highly skilled warrior race from the wandering, nearly dead Morudagni clans, and used massive amounts of negative energy siphoned off of the Locust to forcibly transform his soul into one of the most powerful entities in the universe. After almost a decade of biding his time and building his power, his armies struck out at the dragons, slowly beating them back in a long guerilla war.

"After the Councilman began his war, the dragons realized they needed more weapons to fight back the Morudagni." Ven began speaking. "So they began looking for a human capable of harnessing the power of the Dreaming like the dragons and the First Folk could. Eventually, they found me, and taught me how to control my gift, formally making me the first Veni-Yan-Cari. I used my gift to unify the warring clans in the southern Valley and found the city of Atheia from where I ruled the Valley.

"Not long after, however, one of the dragons' three major strongholds at the time, the desert fortress of Hoken Guard, came under attack by Morudagni forces. The fortress was overrun, all the dragons were slaughtered, and the Councilman built a city around the ruins where he exponentially increased the scale of his research into Shard's soul fragments.

"The Dragons called upon me and the forces of Atheia to assist them in retaking Hoken Guard. So I lead the Atheian army in a march to the Dragon's Stair to engage Morudagni forces attempting to invade the Valley. In a long, grueling battle, we turned them back, thanks in part to my Veni-Yan-Cari battle prowess.

"After suffering such heavy losses, the Councilman decided to change tactics and destroy his opponents from within. It was then that he created the first Nightmare Entities. By turning the dead and dying on the battlefield, he was able to send these Nightmare Entities into the ranks of the dragons and of my army. The only flaw in his plan, however, was once they received the signal, they immediately reverted, losing all of their original emotional attachments and personality traits, making them easy to spot and subdue. In addition, the first Nightmare Entities lacked the power the ones like Nagratek would come to wield, so they were easily dispatched. Few of these originals survived, and those that did were all masquerading as humans on the front lines.

"Of the few that survived, even less made it back to Hoken Guard. Nevertheless, the Councilman was able to retrieve enough of them to improve upon his designs, and eventually, after several years, he created a newer, more powerful class of Nightmare Entity. He created seven of them initially, all containing enough power to go toe to toe with a fully formed Veni-Yan-Cari. Unfortunately, their new power levels weren't the most useful if they couldn't get close to me without being discovered and driven back. All seven were eventually discovered and forced to flee. In a fit of rage, the Councilman killed his entire research team, appointing the seven Nightmare Entities as his new Awoken Council.

"Then he hit upon a revelation." Nagratek took over the story again. "One he assumed would grant him victory. He managed to improve the Nightmare Entity design even further, allowing them to retain their original personalities and emotional attachments after the received the signal. So he made a myriad of Nightmare Entity shells, as well as the smaller Nightmare Egg prototypes, using up the remains of Shard's soul in the process. He then sent his Awoken Council out to turn two individuals close to Ven to test the new prototypes.

"The Awoken Council initially had trouble finding individuals in Ven's inner circle to turn. Until one fierce battle where both her brother, Deyavara, and I, the founder of the order of Venu monks, were mortally wounded. During the chaos of the battle, the Awoken Council found us and turned us into Nightmare Entities ordered to assassinate Ven when the time came. We were unaware of our orders for quite some time, until one night where we both attempted to sneak into her chambers and kill her. Unfortunately, our ability to retain our previous emotional attachments hampered our willingness to carry out our orders, and we defected before carrying out the mission, vowing never to return.

"We both fled to Hoken Guard, where we learned the truth behind Mim's death and Mon'Yaran. When we refused to join the Awoken Council, however, we were thrown in cells and tortured. It was during our incarceration that the Crystal Councilman began developing his final project: Falsely Oneiric Nightmare Entity prototype 127, also known as The Successor. It was a Nightmare Entity he created using a fragment of his own soul to replace the fragments of Shard's soul in the original recipie. He would never complete it however, leaving it fully formed but lacking any orders or basic personality structure. But I digress.

"In the dungeons of Hoken Guard, the one surviving fragment of Shard's soul found me and helped me and Deyavara escape. The three of us fled to the outskirts of Deren Guard, where we met Breshet, a fledgling guard just assigned her first combatant role. Initially, she was hostile, but we managed to convince her we were friendly. Shortly thereafter, she received word that the Nacht, her father and the leader of the Dragon Council, had been captured, along with Ven, during a Morudagni raid.

"Instantly we formulated an escape plan. Shard, Deyavara, and I snuck back into Hoken Guard to free them, while Breshet and the dragon army staged an all-out assault on the fortress. The three of us interrupted a ceremony where the Councilman had intended to ritualistically devour Ven's soul and gain even more power. By the time we arrived, however, the Crystal Councilman had already turned the Nacht into a Nightmare Entity, though none of us knew that at the time.

"After freeing Ven from the Councilman's grasp, the four of us fought him and the Awoken Council to the death. They overpowered us in a long battle, mortally wounding Ven and nearly destroying the rest of us. But the chaos we created allowed the dragons the opening they needed to attack Hoken Guard and overwhelm the Councilman's forced. Facing a no win scenario, he crystalized himself and the entire Council, trapping their souls in cages we could not open. Mon'Yaran quickly capitalized on the Councilman's move, surrounding the crystal prisons in chains of Dreaming energy to ensure they would never wake up.

"Our victory was short lived, however, as Ven began to succumb to her wounds. In a last ditch effort to save her life, I placed her soul in the shell of an incomplete Nightmare Entity, which I would later set into an amulet. As the dust cleared, Mon'Yaran's assistant Lorimar approached us with a proposition. Me and Deyavara would be allowed to live if we took the remaining Morudagni forces into the desert and wiped their memories, exiling them to an existence of wandering the scorched wastes. We accepted.

"Before we left, however, we founded the Vedu and put several contingencies in place in case Mon'Yaran or the Crystal Councilman were to ever gain power again. We created an object called the Cipher, capable of storing a massive amount of dreaming energy and redirecting it at an object, for the purpose of weakening either of the brothers should they wake from their slumbering. We also moved the Awoken Council away from the Crystal Councilman's prison in Hoken Guard to a cave beyond the Eastern Mountains where Shard could keep a better eye on them. Finally, Shard destroyed all the remaining Nightmare Entity shells just after Deyavara and I left, ensuring no more could be made.

"Deyavara and I wiped the memories of the Morudagni people and led them into the desert. After a few centuries of wandering, we led the clans that had named themselves after us, clans Nagratek and Deyavara, out of the wastes and into the lush fields on the other side. For centuries, we guided the clans from the shadows, ensuring relative peace and stability. Eventually, when we felt we had done all we could to guide the clans, Deyavara and I cut ourselves off from the rest of Bone society. I began looking for ways to rebuild Ven's body, and Deyavara started a family.

"Without our leadership, the clans quickly deteriorated into squabbling. Within a year, war broke out between clan Nagratek and clan Deyavara. As the war spread, not even Deyavara's isolated homestead was safe. Nagratek soldiers burned his house and killed his wife while he was away. Their infant son barely survived. After Deyavara returned and massacred all the soldiers, he became greatly disturbed. He discovered that, unlike in the Valley, or even the human realms, where a dead soul can rejoin the Dreaming and exist forever as Dreaming energy, the soul of a dead Bone has nowhere to go, and simply vanishes.

"Realizing that we had robbed the Morudagni of the afterlife by leading them away from the Dreaming, Deyavara began to foster and intense hatred for me, the rest of the Vedu, and especially for Mon'Yaran and the dragons. He turned away from our mission and began plotting to return the Crystal Councilman to full power.

"He forced the Deyavara clan to construct a large mountain fortress in the far north, the Norgabard, where they would be safe from all attacks. He then fled to the Western Coasts, where he found a small scouting party of humans. He managed to convince them that a series of weak kingdoms guarded vast stores of treasure further inland, and that all they had to do was roll through with a large enough army and take it for themselves.

"The humans soon returned with a large invasion force. Blinded by revenge, Deyavara led them straight to the lands of clan Nagratek, destroying everything in their path. The Bones were caught off guard, and almost everyone in the clan was killed practically overnight. I arrived too late to the fighting to save the clan, but I did manage to save a young man named Argus. I had him warn the other clans of the invasion, and he managed to put together a force to stop the humans' advance.

"In the meantime, I confronted Deyavara, who had taken his son and fled to the Yadrek Mountains in the north. I tried to talk some sense into him, but he wouldn't listen. Still blaming me for the death of his family, Deyavara attacked me. Our battle drove us into the side of a mountain, where we temporarily unleashed enough energy to crystalize the walls, trapping him and his son inside. There I would remain for the next thousand years, attempting to separate his son's outer and inner souls, removing his Nightmare Entity heritage and bringing me a step closer to reviving Ven.

"And there I thought I would remain, until fifty years ago when Fone's grandfather, Harrison Bone, accidently set Deyavara free. Deyavara injured me and fled, forming the Order of the Hollow Soul. I spent twenty years recuperating from my wounds before reemerging to take his organization down.

"After five years of hunting and recruiting my own team of assassins to assist me, I managed to find Deyavara and kill him in Boneville, ending the threat his organization posed. Or so I thought. Deyavara managed to survive the battle, but more than that he had already set events in motion that would ensure the Councilman's release. He made contact with another Nightmare Entity, Sozenga, who accelerated the war that would lead to the burning of Atheia and the release of the Locust. He set up Glaian's crusade with funding from one of his personas, Silas Cohen. He infiltrated the government and slowly began shaping the memories of Daniel Deyavara, for when the time came. And he guided Phoney every step of the way, eventually getting the three cousins thrown out of Boneville and toward the Valley.

"With this last act, he ensured the release of the Locust. When the Locust was destroyed, it broadcast a broad range of energy signatures throughout the Dreaming, activating the Nacht's dormant programming. Three years later, when the Nacht threatened the Valley, this side's Spark was brought back together to destroy him, putting it in the hands of Lorimar and her master Mon'Yaran. With the Locust gone and the Nacht out of the way, Mon'Yaran began expanding the Dreaming's reach in an attempt to reconnect with the Dreaming field outside the Valley and gain access to seven billion more humans to draw power from. Unfortunately, the Dreaming energy freed up by the Locust's death only took him so far, and he was unable to reach even the edge of the Republic.

"Unfortunately, that problem was solved for him when, last night, the Successor went berserk and unleashed enough energy to break the Councilman's chains, freeing up enough Dreaming energy for Mon'Yaran to continue his plan, and forcing us to use the Cipher to forestall the Councilman's full return. Unfortunately, the Awoken Council also freed themselves, and are currently hiding out somewhere in Pawa. Which brings us back to our current predicament. Any questions?"

"You said the Successor went berserk last night." Fone asked. "I don't remember you mentioning it was ever even completed."

"Right…" Nagratek rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I sort of danced around that. Twenty seven years ago, the Boneville Explorer's Society began excavating Hoken Guard. They recovered the Successor just before I showed up to secure it. The night I was going to take it away and destroy it, however, something unexpected happened. There was a birth on site. The baby was stillborn. My emotions got the best of me, and I used to Successor to resurrect the child, rationalizing that because it lacked orders, it didn't really pose a threat.

"Grateful to me, the parents asked me what they should name their child. As one of the options presented was the acronym for Falsely Oneiric Nightmare Entity, Fone, I thought it fitting the Successor should bear such a title. That was the option I picked, and the option they went with." Nagratek turned to Fone, looking him directly in the eye. "That was also the night I met your parents, Fone Bone. And the night I met you. You are the Crystal Councilman's Successor."

* * *

Smiley was in pain. Intense, twisting pain that felt as if his flesh was being torn apart. But at least he was breathing. After Archibald had shot him, he wasn't sure he would survive. But if he could still feel pain, he was still alive. And that meant he still had a chance.

With all his might, Smiley attempted to sit up. It took him considerable effort, but he managed it eventually. As he did, the pain began to recede from his body, crawling up the left side of his torso before slinking backward up the back of his neck. It finally disappeared after reaching the left side of his face.

"Cuz…" Smiley breathed as he attempted to open his eyes. "You there?" He found he could only open his right eye. Something was sealing his left eye shut.

"Your cousin isn't here." A man on the other side of the room from Smiley spoke. As Smiley turned to face him, he noticed his surroundings for the first time. He was in a small stone room, sitting on a cot bolted to the ground, with his wrist handcuffed to the frame. There was a human in his late sixties sitting on a cot opposite him in the same predicament.

"Who're you?" Smiley asked, unsure of where he was.

"My name is Gabriel." The man answered.

"Why are you handcuffed?" Smiley asked. "Why am I handcuffed?"

"I'm handcuffed because of what I know. You're handcuffed because they don't want you breaking out and causing any damage." Gabriel smirked.

"Damage? I might be a bit of a klutz, but I ain't that careless."

"They aren't worried about you. They're worried about that abomination lurking in your eye."

"Hey!" Smiley exclaimed. "That ain't very nice." Smiley stood up. His momentum snapped the chain of the handcuffs. As Smiley examined the broken handcuffs, Gabriel began chuckling.

"Case in point." Gabriel pointed at the handcuffs. Before he could continue, indistinct voices drifted down the staircase just outside the room.

"What's goin' on up there?" Smiley wondered aloud.

"If I had to guess, I'd say your cousins finally learned the truth." Gabriel leaned back.

"Th' truth about what?" Smiley raised an eyebrow.

"You're free. What's stopping you from finding out for yourself?" Gabriel mused. Smiley considered his words for a moment before shrugging and walking up the stairs. He emerged from the staircase in a stone hallway. Following the sounds of the voices, he turned down the hallway and followed it until he reached a larger chamber.

"You can't be serious!" Fone shouted as Smiley tentatively entered the room. "You honestly expect me to believe this?"

"Yes, I do." Nagratek responded. "Because it's the truth. You may not remember what you did last night, but-"

"Last night?" Fone laughed. "I was unconscious. What could I have possibly done?"

"You weren't unconscious." Phoney spoke, looking Fone in the eyes for the first time that day. "You died. We all saw you die. And then you began floating and spewing flames from your skin."

"Wha…" Fone looked around at everyone, dumbfounded. "Is that…"

"It's true." Thorn sighed.

"You liquefied Glaian's entire army." Nibet beamed. "The carnage was quite impressive. Metal melting and flesh boiling and-"

"Ok, that's quite enough." Nagratek cut her off. Fone began to look sick. Nagratek turned to him. "Are you going to be alright?"

"Yeah…" Fone stared at the ground for a moment. "Hopefully. I need to take some time to… process this."

"It's a lot to take in, I know. But the important thing is you are still you. You always have been."

"What's goin' on?" Smiley asked hesitantly.

"Smiley?" Phoney asked as everyone in the room turned to face Smiley. "Is that… you?"

"Who else would it be?" Smiley responded. Instantly Phoney ran to him and wrapped himself around Smiley's wire frame. As Smiley reciprocated the hug, Phoney began to cry.

"I missed you, man." He sobbed. Smiley did his best to comfort Phoney. After a minute, Phoney managed to stifle his tears and separate himself from Smiley. "Promise me you won't ever take a bullet for me again, ok?"

"Sure, cuz. I promise." Smiley laughed sheepishly. Bartleby plodded up to Smiley and nestled his head against the lanky Bone's leg. "I missed you too, bud." Smiley patted Bartleby on the head.

"Alright." Phoney clapped his hands, smiling in a way he hadn't in months. "We've got a lot to catch you up on." Phoney began relaying the details of the last two months to Smiley.

"I think I'm going to go take a walk." Fone groaned as he headed for the exit. "I need to clear my head, process what just happened. I'll be back when I can."

"You're not going anywhere." Shard moved in front of Fone, blocking the exit.

"Get out of the way, Shard." Fone strained his voice, his anger suddenly rising.

"That's not happening. You're too dangerous to let loose. You're staying here, where we can keep an eye on you." Fone balled his fists. Shard's eyes began glowing. Thorn grabbed the hilt of her sword.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Nagratek stepped in between Shard and Fone. "Let's all keep calm. There's no need for violence."

"Tell that to your crystal guard dog." Fone and Shard locked eyes. "He's the one itching for a fight."

"I'm not itching for anything." Shard shot back. "I'm just trying to keep everyone safe."

"Like hell you are!" Phoney shouted at Shard. He turned to Nagratek. "Get this maniac to back off my cousin.

"Shard, stand down." Nagratek gave Shard a stern glare. "Stop escalating the situation. Fone just needs to take a walk." Nagratek turned to Fone. "That's all."

"Nagratek, you don't honestly expect me to believe him, do you?" Shard pointed at Fone. "He's the Successor. And he's got the Catalyst. We don't remotely know what his intentions or his loyalties are. We don't even have the slightest grasp of what he's capable of."

"You want to know what I'm capable of?" Fone smirked. Suddenly he bared his teeth. "Well let me show you!" He shouted, slamming his fist as hard as he could into Nagratek's chest. Nagratek collided with Shard. Faster than anyone in the room could register, the pair flew down the hallway behind them until they reached the end, imbedding themselves two feet into a stone wall.

As Fone calmed down and his expression returned to normal, he looked down the hall at what he had done. Then at his own hands. Finally, he looked at the shocked expressions of everyone in the room, particularly Thorn's and his cousins'. Without a word, Fone ran off down the hallway he had sent Nagratek and Shard down. Without stopping to check on them, he ducked into a side tunnel that led to the outside. Without hesitating, Thorn, Phoney and Smiley ran after him.

"Fone, stop!" Thorn shouted as she followed Fone through the passageway. "Where are you going?" She emerged into the open air. Fone stood a dozen yards in front of her, shaking, but otherwise immobile.

"I…" Fone stammered. He turned to face her. "What did I just do?"

"Nothing that merits you running away." Thorn approached him. "No one was hurt. It was just a misunderstanding. Come back inside, and we can get it sorted out." He backed away from her.

"Thorn, I don't know why I attacked them, but I know it wasn't self-defense. I can't control my power. I don't even know what my power is. If you get near me, there's no telling what I could do."

"That's not an option. I love you. I'm not willing to give up on us, and I will not let you give up on us either." She walked up to him, bent down on one knee, and embraced him. "Don't leave me again." She whispered.

"Ok…" He sighed. "I'll stay."

"Why is it always her?" Phoney asked as he and Smiley came outside to join them. "I had this long winded speech prepared about how our family was just made whole again, and how dare you run off and ruin that. And then she comes along and batts her eyelashes and you do whatever she says."

"Can't you ever let me be happy for five seconds?" Fone asked as he and Thorn separated.

"Well, you know me." Phoney smirked. "It's good to have the whole gang back together again. Feels like old times."

"Well, not quite." Thorn smirked. Still kneeling on the ground, she leaned her head to the side and kissed Fone on the lips.

"When did this happen?" Smiley asked, blushing slightly.

"Like I said, there's a lot I have to catch you up on." Phoney responded. As Fone and Thorn continued to kiss, Fone's skin began glowing. He broke off the kiss and backed away from her.

"This is new." He muttered to himself.

"Did I say we were done?" Thorn tried to pull Fone back to her. When she touched his skin, however, her hand began to burn. Instantly she pulled it away, wincing from the pain. "Your skin is… burning."

"I'm so sorry." Fone moved to comfort her. She backed away. "I didn't mean to. I can't control this… whatever it is."

"It's alright." She stood up, nursing her hand.

"It's not alright." Nagratek said as he emerged from the hallway. "This is extremely bad." He approached Fone.

"Nagratek." Fone asked. "What's happening to me?"

"I'm not entirely sure. This is… unprecedented, to say the least. Go back inside. We'll need to keep you under observation until we can figure out what's happening."

"Yeah. Sure." Fone began walking toward the entrance.

"Cheer up, kid. I'm sure we can get this all figured out." Nagratek put his hand on Fone's shoulder, ignoring his super-heated skin. Suddenly, Fone screamed. A voice began speaking in his mind. It was Nagratek's.

"We need to extract the Catalyst before it's too late." It spoke. "Tell Shard to prep for the procedure as soon as possible. And don't let the Successor out of your sight. We don't want him to get spooked before we can neutralize him." Fone collapsed on the ground.

"Kid?" Nagratek asked. "What's wrong?"

"What were you planning to do to me?" Fone stood up. "What's the procedure? What's the Catalyst?"

"That's just great. Now we're blown." Nagratek said. The black substance began to cover his skin. "Last chance. Go back inside or I'll drag you back." Fone backed up, away from the entrance. Nagratek drove his arm through Fone's gut.

Instead of bleeding, the wound began to emit a honey-gold light. Before Nagratek could back away, Fone grabbed the sides of Nagratek's head. Fone's glowing skin began to burn the black substance, forcing it to retreat across Nagratek's body. Nagratek grunted, but otherwise remained undeterred.

He pulled his arm out of Fone's stomach and swept him off his feet with a roundhouse kick. As Fone fell to the ground, Nagratek punched him in the temple. Before Fone could recover, Nagratek wrapped his arm around Fone's neck, picked him up, and began dragging him toward the entrance. Fone struggled with all his might, punching and kicking Nagratek as they slowly inched their way to the temple.

"This isn't you, kid." Nagratek grunted through Fone's repeated attempts to free himself. "It's the Catalyst. Fight through it." Fone wasn't listening. They were halfway to the entrance. Fone elbowed Nagratek in the kneecap, temporarily knocking him off balance. Then he slammed his fist into Nagratek's temple, loosening Nagratek's grip on his neck. Fone then grabbed Nagratek's arm and pulled in straight out of its socket. Standing up, he proceeded to beat Nagratek with his own severed arm.

Nagratek caught the arm with his remaining hand during its descent, ripping it from Fone's grasp and reattaching it to his shoulder. He then leapt up and kneed Fone in the jaw, sending him flying backward. As Fone landed, Nagratek jumped after him. Nagratek descended on him, raising his fist to strike. Fone recovered and caught Nagratek's fist midair. He ducked under Nagratek as he continued to descend. Before Nagratek could alter his course, Fone swung him into the ground. Picking up Nagratek by his forehead, Fone threw him over the top of the mountain they had all emerged from. As Nagratek sailed out of sight, Fone's skin lost its glow. Standing behind him, Thorn approached him with her arm outstretched.

"Fone?" She asked. "Are you alright." He didn't respond. She touched his shoulder. Instantly he whirled around and punched her in the gut, sending her flying several feet. His eyes were glazed over.

As she landed, Fone's eyes began to clear. Thorn began to recover. She looked up at Fone, both shocked and hurt by his actions.

"I'm sorry." He whispered. Before she could respond, he ran from her. He ran down the mountainside until he reached a forest. As soon as he thought he was far enough away, he stopped and leaned against a tree.

"What have I done?" He asked as he cupped his head in his hands.

"You've discovered your true power, dear Successor." Said a voice next to him. Fone jumped to the side and turned to face whoever was speaking. Standing in front of him was a small, dark haired human boy.

"Who are you?" Fone asked, raising his guard.

"My name is Havaki." The boy spoke. "I'm a friend."

"Where did you come from? How did you know who I was?"

"I've always been here. Waiting to guide you once you unlocked your potential. You called out to me when you fought the Nightmare Entity, and in turn I guided you here so that we could speak in private."

"What do you want?"

"The same thing you want." Havaki approached him. "For you to gain total control of your newfound abilities. But we cannot accomplish that here, with your friends no doubt looking for us as we speak. We must go somewhere far from here, where you can focus, and where I can train you."

"I can't just abandon my friends. I can't abandon Thorn."

"And what happens if you go back there? You'll lose control again. Hurt her again. Maybe even kill her. If you want to keep her safe, you have to learn how to control yourself. And you cannot do that locked away by people that don't understand you themselves."

"Ok, fine. I'll go with you." Fone lowered his guard. "Where exactly is it we're going."

"All in good time, Successor. For now, just follow me." Havaki slinked backward into the darkness of the forest. Before he realized what he was doing, Fone followed him.

* * *

"So, how much of that did you know already?" Gran'ma Ben asked the Great Red Dragon. The two of them stood in a circle with Phoney, Smiley, Bartleby, Sybron, Rankyne, X'lish, Nibet, and Ted.

"Bits and pieces." The Great Red Dragon responded. "I was there when the First Folk arrived in the Waking World, so I can confirm the existence of Mon'Yaran and his brother. After we were forced to imprison Mim in stone, however, I became distant. I gave my name to my newborn nephew, Breshet's baby brother and the dragon you know as Stillman. Then I left the Valley and wandered the desert for several decades, doing some rather intense soul searching. I only came back after I found out my brother the Nacht had been kidnapped, so I can also confirm that event took place. Everything else in between, as well as the origin of the Vedu and the existence of Nightmare Entities, I can't confirm."

"Do you think we can trust the rest of what they said?" Sybron asked. "It sounded rather outlandish to me."

"We just repelled an invasion by an army of Bones in metal giants and disappearing flying machines, and learning our old legends were incomplete is what you classify as outlandish?" Rankyne responded. "You need to seriously adjust your mindset, old man."

"I'll take that as a yes." Sybron muttered.

"Speaking of adjusting, how are you holding up?" Phoney asked. "You know, after Caydmar…"

"I'm not going to break down crying of freeze up, if that's what you're asking." Rankyne said. "I'm still angry, mind you, but Roque Ja, Glaian, and Deyavara are all dead, so I've got no one left to blame for his death. I suppose that makes me even angrier."

"Well then, you've got the perfect opportunity to find some closure." Nagratek said as he, Shard, Ven, Breshet and Thorn all walked back into the room.

"Any luck?" Smiley asked.

"No." Thorn responded. "We gave up the search. He could be anywhere in the Valley right now."

"And we have more important things to focus on anyway. I never did finish answering questions." The five rejoined the circle.

"I've got one." Phoney spoke up. "Not that I'm complaining, but how is Smiley still alive? And why is his eye a crystal?"

"My eye's a crystal?" Smiley asked, touching his left eye to confirm. "Well, that explains why I can't see out of it."

"I'm actually not entirely sure what happened to him." Nagratek said. "I know Deyavara put part of his soul in the crystal he implanted Smiley with, which took over his body and began acting semi-autonomously. I extracted the soul fragment last night, but left the crystal intact. I thought it would have killed him again, but it seems his original soul stuck around and filled the void."

"That doesn't make any sense." Ven interjected. "If he died, then his soul should have disappeared."

"Unless Deyavara implanted him with the crystal when he was still alive. If that's the case, Smiley was never actually dead in the first place. He was just subdued by the crystal."

"Are there going to be any lasting effects?" Phoney asked.

"There shouldn't be."

"Am I gonna be stuck with no left eye for th' rest of my life?" Smiley asked.

"I can take care of that for you, actually." Shard responded. He walked over to Smiley and stuck a finger into Smiley's crystal eye. It glowed for a moment. When Shard removed his finger, the eye was normal again. "I've restructured the crystal to mimic an eye. It should work fine."

"Thanks." Smiley muttered, blinking, as Shard returned to his spot in the circle.

"Now that that's cleared up, explain to me what happened to Fone." Thorn locked eyes with Nagratek. "Why did he flip out like that? And what's the Catalyst?"

"I didn't want to mention it before, because I was afraid it would spook the Successor. But the Catalyst is the Spark." Nagratek responded.

"The Spark?" Gran'ma Ben asked. "I thought you said Mon'Yaran had the Spark?"

"He did, but he can't use it. We think it's because his soul can only handle fusing with one Spark, but whatever the reason he entrusted it to Lorimar. When we met her in Deren Guard, she gave it to Fone without his knowledge."

"How'd she give it to him?" Rankyne asked. "I thought it was a crystal… thing."

"It's more complicated than that." Shard responded. "First Folk exist entirely within the Dreaming, sending parts of our souls into host bodies to interact with the world. We can also fuse our souls with various objects and make them parts of ourselves permanently. If she fused herself with the Spark, she would be able to transfer the part of her soul that contains the Spark's power into another person just by touching them, even if the physical shell of the Spark stays with her, and even if she is unable to use the Spark's true power herself."

"Which is exactly what she did when she pricked Fone in Deren Guard." Nagratek continued. "She transferred the Spark's power to him, along with a part of her soul. That power is now attempting to fill Fone's inner soul, which, thanks to the Crystal Councilman not finishing the Successor in time, contains no orders or information of any kind."

"What happens if his soul gets filled?" Thorn asked.

"Then Lorimar takes control of his body and uses his power to bring about Mon'Yaran's plan. We can prevent that so long as we act quickly. So starting now, we're going to have to go on the offensive if we want to stop both the Councilman's and Mon'Yaran's plans. So, from here on out, you all do exactly as I say. Is that clear?" Everyone around the room nodded.

"Good." Nagratek rubbed his hands together. "First things first. How many people did we rescue from the camp outside Atheia?"

"Well," Phoney pondered the question for a moment. "With the exception of the people we got out two months ago, the kids Fone found at the Elm's farm, a few missing civilians, and some of the Dreaming Council, we recovered what appears to be every inhabitant of the Northern villages and Atheia. Twenty-five thousand people in total."

"No Pawans?" Rankyne asked.

"Not a single one. And from what Breshet told us after her various scouting missions, Glaian's army took them all as well."

"Which begs the question," Nagratek said. "Where did they put fifteen thousand people without us noticing? And why did the remaining Nightmare Entities gather in Pawa, when there's no one there to consume?" Nagratek was quiet for a time. "Unless the people were gathered into one location to make it easier for the Nightmare Entities to consume them and regain strength. Shard, after we're done here I want you to go to Pawa and begin looking for spikes in Dreaming Energy."

"Sure thing." The First Folk responded.

"I'm going with him." Rankyne interjected. "Those are my people, and I won't leave their fate in the hands of someone else."

"I would prefer you stayed here and trained with Ven and Thorn to control your Veni-Yan-Cari abilities." Nagratek responded.

"I can teach him on the road." Ven suggested. "Besides, if Shard does run into any of the Awoken Council, he'll need backup."

"That's a good point. We should probably send someone else with you, just to be safe."

"I'll go." Breshet said. "I've fought Nightmare Entities before."

"No, I need you for something else."

"I'll go." The Great Red Dragon said. "I've got plenty of combat experience."

"I'll come too." Ted began jumping. "I'm pretty keyed inta th' Dreamin', so I can help with th' search."

"That's fine." Nagratek responded.

"What about me?" Breshet asked.

"I need you to contact your brother Stillman and-."

"Stillman?" The Great Red Dragon interjected. "What's he got to do with any of this?"

"We've already got Taneal spying on the Dragon Council for us. I'd prefer it if Stillman went to Tanen Guard to keep an eye on Mon'Yaran."

"Why are we spying on the Dragon Council?" Thorn asked.

"They're Mon'Yaran's puppets." Breshet responded. "They have been since the death of Mim. Eventually, we're going to have to destroy them as well, if we hope to prevent Mon'Yaran's plan." Breshet turned back to Nagratek. "What else did you need me to do?"

"I also need you and the Sky Legion to go looking for any trace of the Councilman or the Extinction drives."

"The Extinction Drives?" Gran'ma Ben asked. "What happened to them?"

"Someone moved them." Breshet responded. "When we arrived at Hoken Guard, they were gone. Which means Deyavara must have hidden them somewhere."

"Breshet will look for them in the Valley. But there's the chance Deyavara sent them to the Republic, or even to another human country." Nagratek turned to X'lish and Nibet. "Which is why the two of you are going back to the Republic to see if you can track them down."

"I'm not sure I understand everything that's happened today." X'lish said. "Especially the part where you're some sort of eldritch horror. But as long as we're going back to the Republic, I don't care."

"I'll take any chance I can get to get away from this nest of weird." Nibet said. "What do you need us to do?"

"You'll need to look for anything you can find about the shipments Silas Cohen's company have been making, for Glaian's organization or otherwise. See if you can find and evidence for where Deyavara could have moved the Extinction Drives. If you can, you should also assist Admiral Haenkos in combating Glaian's remaining forces, but not if it interferes with your objective."

"Got it." The twins spoke in sync.

"Why do I feel like they don't know what's going on?" Phoney whispered to Nagratek.

"If you feel that strongly, the perhaps you should join them. You do have a duty to your country as President anyway." Nagratek responded.

"Fine. I'll go too."

"Excellent." Nagratek turned to the sisters. "Phoncible will also be joining you. He has extensive knowledge of Silas's company. Between the three of you, you should have an idea of where to start."

"What about the rest of us?" Thorn asked. "We still don't have anyone going after Fone."

"It's not a priority."

"Like hell it isn't. If the Spark takes full control of him, we lose, no matter what."

"Fine. You and I will search for him."

"I'm comin' too." Smiley spoke up. "I may not know what's goin' on, but Fone deserves to have someone from his family out lookin' for him."

"I'll go as well." Bartleby said. "I'm sticking by Smiley, no matter what."

"Even if your people needed you?" Another rat creature hissed. Everyone in the room turned to see Zel and Yir enter from the main chamber of the temple.

"Not you two again." Thorn groaned as they approached Bartleby. "What do you idiots want now?"

"Well, what I'd like is a nice baked quiche, but unfortunately, we're not allowed to have any." Yir said, glaring at his companion.

"What my comrade is trying to say is that we've come her to talk to the small one you call "Bartle-bye"." Zel answered.

"You're here to talk to me?" Bartleby asked. "Why?"

"As you know, King Agak was killed in battle last night, leaving us without a King. So the commanders got together and decided to appoint a new one. Quickly, they realized that the only logical choice was the only rat King Agak had ever bowed to during his reign. So they sent us here to tell you that they have decided to appoint you our next King."

"I… I… That's… What do I say?" Bartleby asked.

"Say yes!" Smiley exclaimed, hugging Bartleby. "Oh I'm so proud of you!"

"I'm King now…" Bartleby stared at Zel and Yir. "I suppose this means I'll have to go back to the obsidian fortress and start figuring out how this is going to work."

"I'd prefer it if you stayed here, where it's relatively safe." Nagratek interjected. He turned to Zel and Yir. "Can you two tell your military commanders to come here themselves and assist your new King?"

"Of course." Yir responded. "We'd be happy to." The pair left the room immediately.

"Any other world-shattering revelations you'd like to drop on us today, universe?!" Phoney shouted at the ceiling. "No?! Ok then!" He recomposed himself. "Please continue."

"Since Bartleby's staying, I'd like to stay here with Sybron and help sort out the people we pulled from the camp." Gran'ma Ben spoke. "We've got a lot of wounded, and we'll need some experienced and able fighters guarding the home base in case of an attack."

"Suit yourself." Nagratek clapped his hands together. "You all know what you're doing, so get on it." Everyone began to trickle from the room. He turned to Thorn. "Now let's go find your boyfriend."

"My What?" She asked. Smiley chuckled.

"Right, I forgot culture here has been basically frozen for three thousand years. Let's go get Fone." The three of them started for the exit. Suddenly, Tom Elm ran into the room, panting.

"You guys are looking for Fone, right?" He asked. "Well I think I know where he's gone."


	26. Foundations: Part 4

_**Boneville Explorer's Society dig site four, Yadrek Crater, Norga Province**_

_**April 2496, Thirty Years Ago**_

The cold air danced across Henry Bone's skin as he stepped out of the truck, his boots sinking into the snow covering the ground.

"So this is the infamous Yadrek Crater dad won't shut up about?" Henry said to himself. In front of him was a large circular indentation, more than a mile across but only a dozen feet deep. The rim sloped upward sharply on the far side where it met the sides of the Yadrek mountain range.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Harrison Bone asked as he approached Henry from behind. "How elegantly it defies all explanation."

"That's what you're opening with?" Henry said as he turned to face his father. "You're not even going to try explain why you haven't been returning my calls?"

"I've been busy."

"Busy enough that you needed my help? I find that very hard to believe."

"Actually, it's more of an issue with my crew."

"Your new assistant not living up to your standards?" Henry nodded at the woman exiting the driver's side of the truck who had picked him up at the train station.

"Janet?" Harrison asked. "No, she's more capable than I am. The problem is Percival. His kid brother Norman got in a car crash last week. As soon as we got word, he left for Boneville General Hospital. So until he gets back, I need a replacement."

"What about Mary? Or Liz? "

"Elizabeth hasn't worked in the field since she was pregnant with Francis. She runs our accounting department now. And Mary and I… aren't exactly on speaking terms at the moment."

"Come again?"

"She and I got in a fight a few months ago over how I run the Society. Shortly after, she transferred to Keegan's team in the desert and hasn't spoken to me since."

"So, what, I'm your fallback guy? The one you call in case you couldn't find anyone else? Typical."

"Oh, don't be so negative. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity."

"Sir, we should get going." Janet said as she approached the pair from behind.

"I suppose we should." Harrison replied. "Come on, Henry. Let's get you settled in." Harrison and Janet turned and began walking toward a small cluster of tents several yards away. Henry followed close behind.

"Now, the camp may look small," Harrison said over his shoulder.

"Because it is." Janet said, looking straight ahead.

"Regardless, I'm sure you'll find the accommodations more than satisfactory. Now, over here is what I suppose is the mess hall." Henry motioned toward the largest tent in the center of the camp.

"Dad, what are we doing here?" Henry asked.

"Would you rather we just go straight to your tent?"

"No, I mean what are we doing excavating a shallow crater in the middle of nowhere? I know you had some sort of "experience" here when you first formed the Society, but what do you hope to find by poking around the rubble two decades later?"

"It was more than a simple experience." Harrison turned to look at the crater. He pulled an old amulet from his coat pocket and idly turned it over in his hand. "Something happened to me that I cannot explain."

"It was an earthquake."

"Was it? What happened here wasn't natural, you can tell just by looking at it."

"Seismometers measured a magnitude 6.3 seismic event."

"Yes, something was measured. But the closest fault line is over two hundred miles away, and it didn't move an inch that day. There was no earthquake."

"Then enlighten me. If there was no earthquake, how did the mountain collapse?"

"I don't know." Harrison turned back to face his son. "Try as I might, I have no explanation. Which is why this dig is so important. I have to know what really happened here."

"Sir!" Janet shouted, standing on the edge of the crater. "The anomaly is back! We need to move quickly!"

"Grab the gear and meet us there!" Harrison shouted back, stuffing the amulet back into his pocket. As Janet ducked into one of the tents, Harrison ran into the crater. "Henry, follow me!" He shouted behind him. Henry reluctantly did as he was told.

"So, what's this anomaly?" Henry asked as he caught up with his father.

"That." Harrison stopped and pointed at a large cloud of white gas seeping up from the ground.

"A steam vent?"

"That would be an interesting find," Harrison said as Janet caught up to them with two men Henry hadn't met yet in tow, both carrying strange scientific implements.

"And certainly more helpful than this thing." Janet pointed at the gas cloud as the three of them approached it and began setting placing the various devices around the gas cloud.

"But this isn't a steam vent." Harrison said as Janet and the others backed away from the cloud. "This is perhaps the greatest geological mystery of this entire crater. It appears at random intervals, in random places, seemingly unprovoked, pulls itself back into the ground despite being a gas, and is comprised of the strangest substance I've ever had the pleasure of examining. The gas is entirely organic, at least on the surface. From the samples we've gathered, we can assume the individual particles behave like cells. But I had a lab at Boneville University analyze them under an electron microscope, and it turns out these "cells" are made of solid crystal structures mimicking organic functions. Technically speaking, they're as alive as you and me, and yet contain no organic compounds. Once we know where they're coming from, we can study them in greater depth. But right now, this setup will have to do."

"Living crystal…" Henry muttered to himself. He walked up to the cloud.

"Wait, don't!" Harrison shouted as Henry stretched out his hand to touch the cloud. As his hand entered the strange gas, he heard a voice in his head.

"And since you two are the only souls around, you'll have to do." It said, as if whoever was speaking was right in front of him. He stumbled back, lost his balance, and fell to the ground.

"Are you alright?" Harrison asked as he and Janet helped Henry up. "What happened?"

"Did none of you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Janet asked. Before Henry could respond, the gas abruptly sucked back into the ground. Then the ground began to buckle underneath them. They tried to run, but the ground quickly collapsed in a burst of rock and dust. The three were sucked into the resulting hole.

"Sir!" One of the two hired hands shouted as they both ran to the edge of the hole. He turned to his counterpart. "We have to call Keegan."

"No, we've got to call the boss." The other one responded. "Tell him the Betrayer could be on the move."

"Jigafta, we can't just let these people die."

"They're a cover, Utenki. Nothing more. Now let's get going."

"Wait!" Utenki shouted. The dust had begun clearing, and through it he could see the outline of a Bone standing up in the midst of the cloud. "Someone's still alive!" He ran to help them. Jigafta reluctantly followed him.

"That isn't a person." Jigafta said as they reached the thing standing in the middle of where the anomaly used to be. It had the basic shape and features of a normal Bone, but was made of a black semi-solid substance, which dripped from the creature in large globules. Jigafta drew a knife from his belt and held it in front of him. His hands shook.

"What is that thing?" Utenki asked.

"You idiot!" Jigafta snapped back. "That's the Betrayer! We need to get out of here now!" Instantly, his partner unholstered his revolver. The creature cocked its head to one side, observing the two Bones. Then, without warning, it rushed forward faster than either man could register and grabbed them by their foreheads.

Both men screamed and convulsed as the creature began stripping them of their memories. With all his remaining effort, Jigafta raised the knife to his throat and slit it, killing himself. Utenki in turn put a bullet in his own temple.

Disappointed, the creature dropped the two bodies to the ground. It then shuddered for a moment while its skin took on the appearance of a normal Bone's. He then walked off into the distance.

"Jigafta… Utenki…" He muttered to himself. "I suppose it'll have to do. At least until I can find Deyavara. And figure out what the hell he's been up to."

Below ground, Henry Bone stirred awake as water slowly lapped at his face. After the ringing in his ears stopped, he pulled himself up and took a look at his surroundings. He was on the shore of a massive underground lake. Toward the center of the cavern's ceiling sat the hole he and the others had fallen through. Through it he could just barely make out the night sky.

"How long have I been out?" He muttered to himself. As he stared at the cavern's ceiling, he saw something stir in the corner of his eye. He flinched, and instinctively moved his hands to protect his face.

"Oh calm down." Henry heard a raspy, barely audible voice say. "I'm not going to bite or anything." Henry lowered his hands. Lying on the ground a few feet away from him was his father's assistant, struggling to her feet.

"It's… Janet, right?" He asked as he offered her a helping hand. Grabbing it, she pulled herself off the ground. "Would you mind telling me what the hell happened?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." She talked as she brushed sand off of herself. "But I think we can safely assume that whatever happened, it was your fault."

"My fault? What did I do?"

"You made direct contact with an unknown, extremely volatile substance that collapsed a section of the ground into an underground lake, destroying months of your father's work in the process."

"Point taken. Speaking of my father, where do you think he ended up?" Henry surveyed the lakeshore for any sign of his father.

"I don't see him." Janet began looking around as well. She spotted a red smear on the ground leading away from the shore and into the entrance of a smaller cave. "This can't be good." She ran to the trail, Henry following closely behind. When she reached the trail, she bent down to examine it. "It's definitely blood." She announced aloud. "Relatively fresh too. A few hours old at most."

"Dad…" Henry muttered under his breath. He immediately took off running, following the trail into the rest of the cave system.

"Wait!" Janet shouted as she ran after him. "Don't just run off!" She caught up to him and in the tunnel and grabbed his arm. "You don't know what's at the end of this trail."

"My father is hurt! He could be dying!" He wrenched out of her grasp and continued running. "I'm not going to waste my time debating the issue!" Henry shouted behind him as he approached a corner. Janet was quick to go after him again. As Henry rounded the corner, the tunnel suddenly opened up into another large cavern. The floor, however, abruptly dropped off three feet in front of the entrance. Past the drop off, a massive ravine stretched in either direction. When Henry came barreling around the corner, his momentum nearly threw him into the ravine. Janet caught up to him just in time to catch his arm and pull him back onto the ledge.

"What'd I tell you?" Janet asked as they both recovered, panting. "I knew we'd run into something like this. And yet, despite my warnings, you just had to rush ahead and nearly kill yourself."

"I promise to be more careful in the future." Henry said. He noticed that the trail of blood hugged the wall and followed a narrow path along the edge of the ravine until it took a turn, where another platform opened up, leading to yet another tunnel.

"This is the strangest cavern I've ever seen." Janet said as she eyed up the ravine. "The tunnels leading here didn't look the slightest bit natural, and now we've got… this." She motioned to the platform the trail of blood led to. As she did so, Henry started walking along the edge of the ravine, continuing to follow the trail.

"Are you insane?!" Janet shouted. "What happened to being careful?"

"I'm watching my step." Henry replied. "But we won't find out what happened to my dad, or why he dragged himself along the edge of a ravine with an open wound, if we don't keep moving forward." Reluctantly, Janet followed him.

"What made you decide to work for the Society?" Henry asked after a period of prolonged silence.

"I'm not sure this is the best time for this conversation, considering..." Janet replied, looking over the edge of the ravine.

"We'll be fine. It's not like we have much else to do but keep moving forward anyway."

"If you must know," Jane sighed, "I've always had a passion for discovery. Your father took me under his wing my sophomore year at Boneville University and helped me turn that passion into a career. I've been his shadow ever since, though I think he prefers the term protégé. What about you? What got you into this business?"

"Family." Henry shook his head. "My siblings and I were all raised on the tales of dad's many adventures out in the field. Exploring caves. Discovering lost civilizations. Dad evangelized this line of work like his life depended on it. My two sisters both joined up as soon as they could. But me… I never really took to it. I got a degree in financial engineering, and I had intended to break ties with the family business entirely. But the only job I could find was as a financial analyst for the Society's parent company. Ironic, huh?"

"Wait, you're a financial analyst? What are you doing here then?"

"I used to be. I quit a couple of years ago. Now I mostly just help wherever I'm needed around the Society."

"Must be pretty boring."

"It's not the worst job in the world. It's leagues better than sitting at a desk staring at numbers all day." The two of them reached the far platform. "And besides-" Henry was cut short by a groan coming from the tunnel in front of them. Immediately, they both ran to see who or what had made the sound.

Just inside the tunnel lay Harrison. He was sprawled out on the ground, bleeding slowly from a poorly bandaged gash on his leg. He was flickering in and out of conscious. He could barely move as Henry and Janet rushed to his side.

"Dad, what happened to you?" Henry asked as he ripped a strip of cloth from his coat and rebandaged Harrison's wound. "What were you thinking?" As henry worked, Harrison grabbed his arm.

"I found the truth." Harrison's eyes were wide with fear. "When you set off that explosion, it all came rushing back. What really happened to me that day..."

"Janet, come help me with this." Henry motioned to his father's leg. Janet crouched down and began applying pressure to the gash. Henry turned back to his father. "Dad, you've lost way too much blood."

"That's not important." Harrison coughed. He drew the amulet from his coat pocket and pressed it into his son's hand. "This is. I meant to give it to you long ago but… I felt I needed to hold onto it. Now I know why. One day, someone will come for this amulet. You have to keep it safe until he returns."

"He's clearly delirious." Janet said as she stood up, the wound as bandaged as the two of them could make it. "If we don't get him back to camp, he's going to die."

"Right." Henry lifted his father onto his back and the three of them set off further down the passageway. "What possessed you to run all the way out here anyway?"

"Followed… The… Golden…" Harrison fell unconscious again.

"Well, that's great." Janet said. "I was hoping he knew some way out of here. Any ideas?"

"Follow the golden…" Henry muttered. Suddenly, he saw a golden light out of the corner of his eye. He looked around frantically, and thought he saw something move down a corridor to their right.

"What is it?" Janet asked, looking around. "Did you spot something?"

"I think this is the way out." Henry pointed down the corridor.

"How can you tell?"

"I've got a hunch. Besides, what options do we really have at this point?" Henry started down the passageway. With a sigh, Janet followed after him. The two walked in silence as the cave in front of them began to curve upward until they saw the stars twinkling above their heads.

As they emerged from the exit into rolling foothills, Henry saw yet more movement out of the corner of his eye. As he looked, he could just barely make out the tail of some golden glowing creature dart behind some nearby rocks. Henry instantly ran over to investigate, but when he looked around, there was nothing in sight.

"Are you sure you didn't hit your head during the fall?" Janet asked.

"No, I'm fine." Henry shook his head. "Where do you suppose we are?"

"We're obviously still in the Yadrek Mountains. Which means camp can't be too far off." She scanned up and down the mountain range. "Ah, there it is." She pointed at a cluster of small lights almost a mile away. "We'd better get going before your father's condition worsens."

She and Henry, still carrying his father on his back, began their hastened trek toward the camp. As they left, a glowing fox slipped quietly back into the cave.

* * *

_**FIC Headquarters, Argus City**_

_**May 2499, Twenty-seven years ago**_

X'lish and Nibet sat outside the Director of the FIC's office, flanked on both sides by bodyguards. They had been there for over an hour. During that hour, the hallway was almost entirely quiet, save for X'lish tapping her foot on the ground from time to time. She didn't usually mind waiting, but Viprus dodging her questions the entire helicopter ride had made her particularly anxious for some straight answers. The handcuffs still strapped to her wrists didn't help either.

"Would you stop that?" Nibet asked as her sister put her foot down again.

"I'm just trying to pass the time." X'lish sat back.

"Pass the time?" Nibet scoffed. "We're sitting here, awaiting judgement in the stronghold of our greatest enemy, and you're tapping your foot like a three year old? I guess I shouldn't have expected anything less."

"What is that supposed to mean?" X'lish asked as she stood up. The guards in the hallway drew their guns.

"You know damn well what I meant." Nibet rose to meet her sister eye to eye. "You're a two-bit traitor, and in your folly you've dragged me down with you."

As Nibet spoke, X'lish slammed her knee into her sister's gut. Nibet caught it. Slamming X'lish's leg to the ground, Nibet pivoted over it and swung a kick at her sister's head. X'lish blocked the foot inches from her face and jumped, carrying both her and her sister into the air. Nibet brought her feet around underneath her and landed in a firm stance as the two began their descent. Still griping hard on X'lish's knee, she flipped her sister over and tried to smash her into the ground.

Suddenly, the doors to the office opened. Viprus rushed out first, grabbing Nibet and yanking her off of her sister. Then Faldr emerged, catching X'lish as she fell.

"You know, I'm beginning to think your sister likes fighting handcuffed." He remarked as X'lish got back on her feet and the guards re-holstered their weapons.

"You!" Nibet shouted at Faldr as she attempted to tear herself from Viprus's grasp. "Mock me again and I smash your teeth in!"

"Control yourself, Nibet." Viprus said as he struggled against her thrashing.

"Control myself?" She turned to face him. "This man is the enemy? Why have you not struck him down yet?"

"Because he is not my enemy. And he is not your enemy, either. The Order is."

"Have you two gone insane?" She finally broke free from his hold. "Did you both forget that we swore to protect our way of life?"

"There's nothing to protect!" Viprus shouted. "The Order lied to us. It's a criminal organization."

"What?" Nibet asked, lowering her guard.

"Drug trafficking." Faldr interrupted. "Arms dealing. The black market. The flesh trade. Extortion. Corruption. Even tax evasion. Name a crime committed in the last ten years, and chances are the Order helped commit it. Despite what you've been told, it isn't some bastion of justice standing valiantly against the forces of oppression. It is a plague, a disease that festers in this country's wounds. And it needs to be stopped, by any means necessary."

"Such a rousing speech." Daniel clapped as he walked out of the director's office. "And with perfect timing, too. Despite the scene your guests made, and the PR nightmare your stun yesterday caused, the Director has approved your request." Daniel walked up to Faldr. "Now go out there and get some results." He walked off down a nearby corridor.

"Who was that?" X'lish asked.

"My handler." Faldr sighed. "Anyway, now that the Director's approved your stay, we can begin the debrief." He and Viprus began walking in another direction. The guards motioned for X'lish and Nibet to follow.

"Debrief?" Nibet asked as the four of them, plus their escort, entered a dimly lit room where the other two agents from the raid on the fort were waiting."

"I'm not going to ask you to take it on faith that everything you know is a lie." Faldr said as he walked up to one of the various screens around the room. "Luckily, I don't have to. I have proof." He pressed a few buttons and a large array of electronic documents popped up on the screen.

"What are these?" X'lish asked as she and her sister examined them.

"Sales records. Accounting ledgers. Shipping manifests. All for highly illegal activities. There's enough evidence there to put half of New Taebid's criminal underground behind bars for good. And it doesn't stop there. We've located over a dozen criminal networks across the country using this evidence."

"What does this have to do with the Order?" Nibet asked.

"We pulled all this from the Ryonia Corporation's central databanks during our raid seven months ago. She coordinated and funded these networks."

"You can't prove the Order was involved in any of this!" Nibet shouted, tearing herself away from the screen.

"That's what I thought too. And then Viprus brought us these." Faldr pressed another button and a new set of documents appeared on screen. "Transcriptions of so-called "council meetings" between Lady Ryonia, Senator Holdsten, General Haenkos, and several other individuals. You probably know them as the Order's governing body. Now every meeting the Lady Ryonia would make a financial report, detailing the profits her various criminal organizations had made for the Order. There's some… pretty damning evidence in there." Faldr paused to let Nibet and X'lish read through the transcripts. As she read, Nibet began to shake.

"They're fake." She spat. "They have to be." Viprus put his hand on her shoulder.

"I pulled these from the Vanguard's archives." He said. "They're real." Nibet slumped to her knees and began crying. After a minute, she stood up next to her sister and dried her eyes.

"Alright, let's say we believe you." X'lish said. "What do you want from us?"

"Your help." The other man in the room, Victor, spoke up for the first time. "We've hit a dead end. The Order, despite its less than stellar security measures, has managed to cover its tracks. We don't know where its headquarters is. It's not noted anywhere on the files we've managed to recover, and they keep their Vanguard in the dark about its exact location too, so none of you will be able to tell us either. So the only other option left is to break back into the fort, access General Haenkos's private logs, and hope we find a clue there."

"Why not just interrogate him directly?"

"We have been. For the past few hours. But neither he nor the Senator have given us anything. So, until we can crack them, the fort is our only option. And since it'll more than likely be under Vanguard protection, we thought having a few Vanguard of our own would prove useful."

"I know none of this can be easy for you to hear." Faldr began again. "But we need all the agents we can get our hands on. Will you help us?"

"Yeah." X'lish said, without a moment's hesitation. "I was planning on ditching the Order anyway. Honestly all this doesn't really surprise me."

"I'll help too." Said her sister. "Now, don't get me wrong. I still don't believe you. Entirely. But, if you're right, then I want to see this hard evidence for myself. So I'll help you get it. After that, though, I'm done."

"That's good enough for me." Faldr beamed. "Now that you two are officially part of the team, introductions are in order. Now, I already know your names, but not everyone does. If you would be so kind…"

"I'm Nibet Trenya."

"X'lish Trenya."

"Thank goodness." Faldr breathed a sigh of relief. "For a second I thought I had you two confused. My name is Faldr Milzaek. You already know Viprus. The other two are Specialist Victor Bone and Lieutenant Satranik Haenkos."

"Haenkos?" X'lish asked.

"Yup." Satranik responded. "The general is my father."

"Isn't that sort of a conflict of interests?"

"She actually joined because of her father." Victor said. "Faldr asked me to find trustworthy individuals to help us in the fort raid. She was at the top of the list. Signed on without any hesitation."

"My parents separated before I was born." Satranik said. "After my mom died, I joined the military to get close to my father, figure out what kind of a person he was. I didn't like what I found. So I've got no qualms about bringing him in."

"Oh!" Nibet piped up suddenly. "I don't know why I only just now thought of this. Do you know Selthash Haenkos?" Satranik tensed up.

"Where did you hear that name?" She asked. Her fist clenched.

"He's a member of our Vanguard team." X'lish interjected. "Do you know him?"

"Sort of." Satranik sighed. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go have a talk with my father." She left the room as quick as she could.

"Ok…" Faldr rubbed his hands together. "On that note, I'll show you two where you'll be staying for the time being." He and Viprus left the room. X'lish and Nibet followed after them.

"So, Faldr." X'lish said as she caught up with him. "Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Not at all."

"How did the FIC manage to turn Viprus to your side?"

"We didn't. He came to us. Said he could offer us some intel, in exchange for our help. He's the one who got us the recording of the Senator and Kelkaid Nagratek."

"You know about the High Lord?"

"Viprus told us as much as he knew. Though it's not been very helpful. This Kelkaid figure is a ghost. He's managed to stay in the shadow of the Order his whole life. He's got no records, and all the information we've gathered on him since is flimsy second-hand reports from less that reputable sources. If there's anything you could tell us, I'd appreciate it."

"I wish there was. We lived our whole lives inside an academy for assassins. We barely know anything about the organization we were raised to defend."

"Yeah, Viprus said pretty much the same thing. I just hope you're telling the truth."

"I don't owe the Order anything. I've been planning to run away for weeks now. Why would I keep anything from you?"

"I suppose you're right. You're sure there isn't anything more you can tell me about him?"

"Well, I do know he's the only man my father, the head of the Vanguard, has ever feared."

"Your father?" Faldr asked. "Viprus never mentioned who the Vanguard leader was. What's his name?"

"Tagyr Trenya." Faldr stopped for a moment.

"Tagyr, huh?" He muttered to himself. "That's not a name you hear every day."

"Is everything alright?" X'lish asked.

"Yeah." Faldr nodded, resuming his walk. Just then, he caught sight of a familiar face down the hallway to his right. "Actually, I've got to go take care of something real quick. You two just keep following Viprus. I'll be done in a minute." He ducked down the corridor. After the others had left, Jigafta Utenki stepped out of the shadows behind him.

"I just finished speaking with Daniel." Jigafta said. "I'm actually rather impressed. In seven months you managed hurt the Order more than I could in two years. Even though I'd chalking most of your progress up to good timing, you've still done a fantastic job without me around."

"What are you doing here? I thought you'd wandered off for good."

"I told you, I just had to take care of something."

"You've been gone for seven months."

"Admittedly, it did take a little bit longer than I had anticipated. But that's not important. You've got some prisoners that need cracking, and I need to get back into the swing of things. Let's walk and talk." Jigaft and Faldr left the corridor for the interrogation rooms. "While you've been busy running the show, I managed to grab us an ace in the hole behind the scenes."

"An ace? How do you mean?"

"I recently learned that the Order has been funding a group of archaeologists called the Boneville Explorer's Society from behind the scenes."

"I'll have Victor look into it."

"You can try, but I doubt you'll find much in the way of a paper trail. These guys are thorough. I did find something, however. Two archaeologists in a tight spot that now owe me a favor. I'm meeting up with them in the near future to get some intel. With any luck, they'll be able to find out where the Order's base is."

"It's in a big city skyscraper somewhere east of Argus City and north of New Taebid."

"How do you figure?"

"I've got my own ace in the hole. A former Vanguard named Viprus. He managed to pin that much down during the rides to and from his missions for the Order, before we had to blow his cover."

"From what I hear, he isn't the only Vanguard you've recruited. I guess you really took a liking to those twin sisters from the Ryonia building."

"Are you going to actually tell me why you left, or just keep dancing around the point forever?"

"I was investigating your family." Jigafta said. Faldr crossed his arms. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Mostly. Why I left isn't your concern."

"I know you enjoy playing the whole 'spy mind game' bit, but my team doesn't work that way. You need to start being honest with me."

"Don't push your luck. Or do I have to ask you about what happened to your father?" Faldr didn't respond. "I thought not. Anyway, enough bickering. We're here." The pair stood in front of a large steel door. Inside, they heard shouting.

"You know, I thought mom left you because you were an asshole!" Satranik shouted at her father, who was handcuffed to a desk in front of her. "That made sense! So imagine my surprise when I found out that she left you because you gave my older brother to a cult so they could raise him as an assassin!"

"Satranik, you have to understand." He responded. "If I didn't comply, they would have hurt your mother. Perhaps even killed her. And they would have taken Selthash by force anyway. I did what I had to do."

"And that's supposed to make what you did right? That's supposed to justify keeping this from me for years?"

"I don't expect you to understand everything right away, but please trust me when I tell you I sacrificed what I did for the greater good. I wanted to tell you about the Order, but I didn't think you were ready."

"Well, you were right about one thing." She sighed as she stepped back from the table. Just then, the door swung open, and Faldr and Jigafta entered the room.

"Hey Satranik, how's the interrogation coming?" Faldr asked.

"Slowly. Who's this guy?" She asked, pointing at Jigafta.

"He's… my… boss, for lack of a better word. He's the one who started this whole thing."

"Betrayer!" General Haenkos blurted out as his eyes locked with Jigafta's. He jumped up out of his chair and grabbed Satranik's sidearm. He placed the barrel against his head. "I won't let you!" He screamed. He pulled the trigger, splattering his brains against the wall next to him.

"I'm really starting to get tired of that." Jigafta said as he walked up to the general's body.

"What the fuck was that?!" Satranik shouted.

"I've been hunting the Order for years. Now that we're getting close to exposing them, they've ordered all their members to commit suicide should they run into me. It started happening a few months ago, once I caught onto their trail at the Explorer's Society. I didn't think their higher ups would have the balls to follow through though. Perhaps the Senator will be more willing to cooperate." Jigafta swiftly left the room.

"Are you going to be alright?" Faldr asked Satranik as she leaned against the wall.

"I don't know. I hated him, but I sure as hell wasn't prepared to see him kill himself."

"Did he tell you anything?"

"Nothing that will help the investigation, but I got what I wanted to know at least." She straightened herself up. "I'm going to go find someone to clean this mess up." She left the room just as Jigafta re-entered it.

"What happened with the Senator?" Faldr asked.

"No dice." Jigafta sighed, pushing the general's body out of the chair and taking his place. "He must've heard the gunshot because he beat his head in against the desk before I got there. It looks like the fort may be our last option after all."

"This is not how I pictured this day going." Faldr closed the door and sat down opposite Jigafta. "So, now that Satranik is gone, would you mind telling me why your mere presence caused two perfectly rational men to kill themselves?"

"I suppose I have a… reputation for making people talk. Like Graham. Or Lady Ryonia. I can extract pretty much all the secrets someone tried to hide from me. I guess the Order finally wised up, because I haven't been able to get my hands on a living member of the Order for months."

"It still doesn't add up. How do they know it's you if you've never left any witnesses?"

"It's probably the presence I exude. I am a terrifying individual, after all."

"Bullshit. I think you used to work for them."

"Well that came out of left field."

"No it didn't. He called you 'betrayer'. He knew who you were. Now, if you didn't work for them, you tell me how those two things fit together."

"I've got to hand it to you." Jigafta said as he stood up. "You've fairly observant. But you've missed the mark by a mile. I didn't used to work for the Order. But I do know who founded it. My brother. We used to be close, but after his wife died we had a falling out. Twenty years ago, he managed to get the better of me. He left me for dead in the snow of the Yadrek Mountains, and went on to create the Order thinking I was just a distant memory. I've made it my life's mission to make him regret that mistake."

"Are you kidding me?" Faldr stood up, knocking his chair aside. "I've spent the last seven months of my life trying to follow your crusade, and the whole time it's been nothing more than a petty sibling rivalry?"

"It's much more than a mere rivalry. My brother endangered this whole country when he founded the Order. And while I want to see him pay for what he did to me, I'm bringing him down because it's the only way to protect the people of this country from ruin. Now you now my secret. It's time you told me yours. Just who are you?"

"I guess it's only fair." Faldr took a deep breath. "My father was Virnakt Milzaek, one of the most skilled assassins to walk the face of the earth. And, based on the information I've gathered over the last seven months, I think he worked for the Order."

* * *

_**Atheia, the royal palace**_

_**May 2499, Twenty-seven years ago**_

Brian Harvester paced furiously in her room. As fast as she could, at any rate, being an eighty year old woman. Ever since the Locust had aged her into an old woman on the night the Great War began twenty-two years ago, she had been largely confined to the palace. Which suited her fine. Rose was under the impression that she had turned her back on the Locust, and no one else knew of her involvement with Balsaad. She was left to do as she pleased, which mostly consisted of secretly coordinating the rat creatures' efforts from within the city walls.

She was content to bide her time in the palace, playing the doddering old fool until the time came to free her master. That was until Lunaria was named Queen. Then she became restless. Her time was running out. Soon a suitable partner would appear for her. And she would grant her master freedom.

Such thoughts whirred around in her head as she contemplated her next move. Suddenly she heard someone approach her from behind.

"Go away." She rasped. "I'm busy."

"Yes, being a spy for the Locust looks incredibly time consuming." Said the young woman behind Briar. She whirled around and grabbed the intruder by the cuff of her tunic.

"Who told you that?" She spat. "Tell me or I will rip it from your mind!"

"Relax, oh great emancipator." The woman responded, meeting Briar's wild gaze. "It just so happens that, for the moment, I too work for the House of Mists." Briar contemplated for a moment before releasing her grasp.

"What are you doing here?" Briar asked. "Why has the master seen fit to seduce yet more agents?"

"He hardly seduced me." The woman laughed. "I'm doing this as a favor. My name is Sozenga." She stretched out her hand. Briar didn't move.

"You may claim to work for my master, but that doesn't mean we're allies. I want to know why you're here. Or I will remove you from this room."

"You couldn't if you tried. But that's beside the point. I have a proposition to make. You want to see your master freed. I do as well. But it must be done at the proper moment."

"The sooner the Locust is awakened, the sooner I can be restored to my former youthful glory, and I refuse to grow senile waiting around for the opportunity."

"You have to think bigger than yourself, Princess Briar. You need a partner. The dragon, Balsaad, was too weak, Rose is too old, and Lunaria doesn't possess her mother's talent. So I suppose the next best option would be to hope Lunaria's children show more promise. Am I correct so far?"

"Cease your prattling. Where are you going with this?"

"I'm here to tell you there is a better option. You could wait for Lunaria's children to be born, hope one of them is a gifted Veni-Yan-Cari, and run the risk of being discovered and killed as you attempt to perform the ritual with the unstable dreaming eye of a child as your partner. Or, you could bide your time. One day, an omen shall appear from the west. A great image in the sky. It will foretell the coming of an individual of unrivaled power, who will be a much more… compliant partner for the ritual."

"And why should I believe you?"

"You will simply have to trust me. For now, continue doing as you have always done. I will watch over you and make sure you are not discovered. And I will lead you to the being of great power when the time comes. All I ask is that you be patient."

"What makes you think I need your help?"

"I suppose you don't. You could always take the first opportunity you get. That's more than likely going to get you killed, though. My way is much more subtle. Much safer."

"And what do you get out of all this? You said you were only here as a favor."

"In short, I need this being of power here when the Locust wakes up. The surge of energy it creates will serve to heighten its power further, putting me one step further toward my goal."

"Bah!" Briar threw her hand into the air. "I'm no one's pawn. I serve only one master. And I will complete the ritual on my own terms."

"Don't be so unreasonable. I'm offering you a-" Sozenga stopped speaking as the room began to darken. Briar raised her fingers to her forehead. She began to speak. As she did, the words didn't come from her mouth but seemed to echo inside Sozenga's mind.

"Leave this place now." She rasped. "Or I will tear your mind apart piece by piece."

"Damn." Sozenga winced as she felt the flow of the Dreaming begin to constrict around her mind. Before Briar could subdue her, Sozenga's fists morphed into clubs and she rushed across the room, attempting to knock Briar unconscious. As Sozenga raised her fists, Briar darted to the side, levitating inches above the ground. She slammed her elbow into Sozenga's side as she did, knocking the nightmare entity to the ground. Briar floated over to Sozenga and placed her hands over the younger looking woman's temples.

"You will tell me everything you know." Briar spat.

"I don't think so, you old bat!" SozengaSozengaSozenga shouted. She grabbed Briar's hands and pried them off of her head. Then she kicked Briar off of her, sending her flying across the room. As Briar recovered, SozengaSozengaSozenga jumped out of a nearby window. Landing in a courtyard, she put all her strength into her legs and jumped, clearing the palace and the city walls as Briar rushed to the window after her. She landed in the plains outside of Atheia, completely drained.

"What was I thinking?" She thought aloud. "Taking on a fully mature Veni-Yan-Cari, especially one as anomalous as that woman, before I've recovered my full strength?"

"I agree." Said a voice behind her. "You're lucky to be alive." Sozenga stood up and whirled around, fists raised to defend herself. Standing in front of her was Shard, of the First Folk.

"The Shattered One." She hissed. "To what do I owe this displeasure?"

"You made the extremely foolish mistake of freeing yourself. Now, I'm going to kill you. You aren't getting a third chance."

"Just try me." She cajoled. "I've got more than enough energy to take y-" As she spoke, Shard rushed forward and thrust his hand through her gut. She spat up a wad of blood as he began absorbing her into himself.

"Like I said. Foolish mistake." He remarked, mostly to himself as Sozenga was almost completely absorbed into his being. Then he began receiving flashed of her memories. They started off as his, like they always did with every nightmare entity he felled. Nothing exciting, just lab work. Then it cut to her experiences. Most of it he already knew. Then he came across her conversation with Briar.

"Oh no." He muttered to himself. "How did she slip underneath my radar?" Having finished absorbing Sozenga, he ran off back toward Atheia. He didn't take three steps before an animal rushed out of the underbrush and clamped its jaws around his neck. His vision exploded. Stars and spots scattered everywhere as he desperately attempted to remove the beast from his jugular. Eventually, he got his hands around its tail and yanked it off. As it flew through the air, he was able to make it out clearly. A golden glowing fox. It landed and took off once again into the underbrush. Shard didn't pursue. Instead he stood still, rubbing the back of his head.

"Where was I going?" He muttered to himself. "Oh well. I've got to get back to the cave anyway." Without so much as a thought for finding and destroying Briar, he leapt into the distance back toward his secluded nightmare entity prison.

After he left, the fox reemerged. After looking around for a moment, it jumped headlong at a nearby bush. It dissolved as it touched the bush, as if their essences combined. Then the bush stood up and morphed into a humanoid form. After pausing for a moment, the figure too dissolved, the particles carried by the wind toward Tanen Guard.


	27. Chapter 22: Remnants

Tom Elm and his father stand outside their farmhouse, watching the horizon. For weeks, the columns of smoke have been steadily moving closer, and Tom's father is concerned that whatever attacked Atheia is moving their way. Fearing for their lives, a number of the surrounding families have fled their homes and are hiding out at the Elms' farm until they know what's going on. Strange noises in the night and a lack of contact with other surrounding villages has everyone on edge.

Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, metallic objects appear in the sky. Bones begin dropping out of them. Tom's father turns to him and looks him in the eye.

"Gather up the other children. Hide." He has a wild look in his eyes. He is terrified. Tom is terrified too, but he does as he is told. He runs back to the house and gathers up all the children he can find. As the Bones close in, they make a mad dash for the house's cellar. After waving the children in hurriedly, Tom slams the cellar doors shut. All the children huddle into the back corner. Suddenly, before they even have a chance to hide themselves, the doors swing wide open.

Tom hesitates, expecting a rush of Bones to storm in to the cellar and take all the children prisoner. Instead, there's no one there. Additionally, the outside scenery has completely changed. Through the doorway he can see bleak stone cliffs instead of the acres of farmland he expected. He looks around confused, only to find that all the other children have disappeared.

In a panic, he sprints up the cellar steps and out into the strange landscape that awaits him. He's at the bottom of a massive canyon that stretches endlessly behind him. In front of him, however, it only continues a short distance before it abruptly closes off, dead ending in a massive wall of stone with a small cave entrance at its base.

Standing at the entrance to that cave is a pair of small figures, one slightly larger than the other. As Tom gets closer to the cave, they begins to take shape. The larger one is Fone Bone, and standing next to him is a small, dark haired human boy. As soon as Tom sees them, he begins running toward them.

"Stop!" He shouts, though they don't notice him. "Don't go!" Still no reaction. "Fone, don't listen to him!" Tom stops in his tracks as the boy turns to face him. His eyes gleam with unbridled malice. Tom's hand begin shaking, but he swallows and continues onward. A golden light begins to shine from the boy, so bright that Tom can barely see. "He's using you!" He continues to shout, his skin beginning to burn. "You can't trust-

-Havaki!" Tom Elm shouted, sitting up in his cot and waking his raccoon friend Roderick, who was nestled just below Tom's feet. Tom looked around momentarily. He was in the tent he'd been provided after arriving at the temple a few short days ago. In the tent with him were some of the children whom Fone had helped rescue from the farm, all still sound asleep.

"Tom?" Roderick asked, rubbing his eyes. "What's going on?" Roderick trotted over to his friend.

"It was just a dream." Tom sighed.

"Another nightmare about the Spark?"

"I don't think so…" Tom muttered. "It was there, but this time the presence felt different."

"How so?"

"I don't know how to explain it. But, it was like the air itself was on fire." Tom slumped back. "And that wasn't even the weirdest part. Lorimar wasn't there like usual. Instead, it was…" He paused. Suddenly he screwed his eyes shut.

"What?" Roderick pressed. "Who was it? And what're you doing with your face?"

"Can't remember all the details." Tom said. "It's all a bit fuzzy." Suddenly Tom felt a pull in his stomach. An emptiness. A yearning. The last time he felt that force was back when he first separated from the Spark, before Lorimar sealed it away. Suddenly his eyes shot wide open. "Fone." He said. Roderick took a step back.

Suddenly Tom threw off the cot's sheet and dashed through the tent flap. Roderick followed desperately after him. Tom sprinted through the camp as fast as he could, weaving through the maze of tents until he came to a passageway. Ducking through the entrance, he came upon a smaller room.

"Let's go get Fone." Tom heard someone in the room say as he blundered into it, panting.

"You guys are looking for Fone, right?" Tom asked the three people in the room. "Well I think I know where he's gone." The entire room was momentarily silent.

"What is this, some kind of joke?" Nagratek said to Thorn. He turned to Tom. "Kid, you need to leave."

"Wait." Thorn grabbed his shoulder. "I recognize him. That's Tom Elm."

"The kid who managed to use the Spark and not implode?" Nagratek seized Tom up. "Impressive stuff, I guess. But what does that have to do with Fone's location?"

"It's a bit difficult to explain." Tom smiled sheepishly. "You probably won't believe me."

"Kid, let me let you in on a little secret." Smiley said as he began looking through his vest for a cigar. "Thorn's th' chosen one. Nagratek's immortal. I'm a literal walkin' corpse. My older cousin's the exiled leader of our country, my younger cousin's possessed by a crystal, and my best friend was just named king of th' rat creatures." Finally locating one crumpled cigar, he lit it and took a massive puff. "At this point, we'll believe pretty much anythin'."

"Possessed by a crystal." Tom said. "So I was right. Fone really has merged with the Spark."

"How did you know that?" Nagratek asked. He clenched his teeth and subtly shifted his stance.

"This is the part you aren't going to believe." Tom gulped. "I saw it in a dream." Nagratek rushed forward and grabbed Tom by his shirt.

"Nagratek!" Thorn shouted, grabbing the hilt of her sword. "What's gotten into you?"

"He's connected with the Spark somehow." Nagratek put his hand around Tom's throat. "How else would he be able to know what it's doing?"

"Queen Thorn…" Tom gasped. "Help…"

"Nagratek, let him go." Thorn growled, drawing her sword and placing it against his throat.

"Don't be stupid, Thorn." Nagratek smirked. "If he's connected to the Spark, that means he's connected to Lorimar too. She could be controlling him for all we know." He squeezed tighter around Tom's throat. "Now, tell me everything you can about what you saw."

"I… know… Lorimar wasn't… there…" He managed to blurt out in between raspy breaths. Nagratek dropped him. Before Tom recovered, he placed his hand against Tom's temple. Both of their eyes began to glow. After a moment, Nagratek backed off and let Tom get back on his feet.

"There is something seriously wrong with you" Thorn said, still holding her sword to his throat.

"He's telling the truth." Nagratek said as he pushed her blade and her comment aside. "I scanned his mind. It was brief, and I didn't get a look at much, but it was enough to confirm his story. Fone was there, along with… something that I have to assume is the Catalyst. Lorimar wasn't in the dream, though. Which is puzzling, considering her link to the Spark."

"You could have just asked, you know." Tom said as he composed himself. "And is isn't puzzling. It just means that he's left Lorimar and latched onto Fone."

"Who's he?" Thorn asked, sheathing her sword.

"The Spark." Tom said matter-of-factly.

"That's impossible." Nagratek interjected. "The Spark's a manifestation of the energy of creation. It doesn't have a mind of its own. Suggesting otherwise is, frankly, absurd."

"It does." Tom responded. "That's why it could leave Lorimar's soul and bond with Fone's in the first place. It can even communicate. I talked to it briefly after I killed the Nacht. We didn't speak long, but I did learn that Its name is Havaki."

"Havaki, that's…" Nagratek's words trailed off. "Whatever. It doesn't matter. Thanks for the info, kid. Now you should head back to bed. We can handle things from here."

"I don't think so." Tom crossed his arms. "You still don't know where to go looking. I do."

"Where?" Nagratek crossed his arms. Everyone in the room stared at Tom.

"Okay, so I don't exactly know where he is." Tom threw his hands up. "But I get this pulling sensation in my gut whenever I concentrate on the dream. I think my soul is reaching out to Havaki, and if we follow it, it could lead us to Fone." Thorn and Nagratek looked at each other.

"Fine." Nagratek scoffed. "You're coming with us. I've got more important things to deal with anyway. Thorn, get these two outside and bring Tom up to speed as best you can. I've got one more loose end to tie up before we get underway."

"Sure." Thorn nodded reluctantly, leading Smiley and Tom to the camp's makeshift hangar. "Don't mind him." She whispered into Tom's ear. "He's just a grumpy old man."

Nagratek, meanwhile, made his way to the storage room Phoney stuck Smiley and Gabriel in after the assault. Smiley's cot was upended and his handcuffs were lying in pieces on the floor, but Gabriel's shackles were still intact, and he was still planted firmly in his seat. Nagratek turned the empty cot back upright and sat on it.

"Do you know who I am?" He asked.

"Glaian told me of you." Gabriel replied. "Jigafta Utenki. He said I'd know you by the scars." Gabriel motioned to his face. "He spoke highly of you. Almost fanatically. And although he hid it well, I got the sense he was absolutely terrified of you. I don't even want to know what you have to do to make a man like him afraid, but you have my commendations nonetheless."

"I didn't come here for your commendations. I came for your loyalty."

"You think you can scare me into dancing to your tune?" Gabriel chuckled. "I stopped being afraid of pain when I joined Tarsil's Vedu. And I stopped being afraid of death when my wife died in my arms."

"Oh please. We're men of reason. I'm sure we can come to some understanding without having to resort to… vulgarities. I'm here to make you an offer."

"That's rich!" Gabriel laughed. "The world slowly dies around us, forces beyond our control attempt to tear this reality in two, and you come to me with an offer? What is it? What can you possibly offer me now? Freedom? Power? Money? There is no meaning in such trivialities anymore."

"You seem to have mistaken me for a fool, or someone who lacks observation. I'm not offering you material wealth. I'm offering you that which you claim no longer exists. Meaning."

"And how are you going to do that? Stop the inevitable destruction of existence? You'd have to be insane to even entertain the notion."

"It was that kind of insanity that led me to found the Vedu in the first place." Nagratek smirked. Gabriel's eyes widened. After a moment, however, he adopted the same smug look as the Bone sitting opposite him.

"So you're Nagratek. Now I understand why Glaian was so afraid of you. And I take it you have a plan to stop the impending cataclysm?"

"Something like that." Nagratek stood up and stretched out his hand. "Brother Gabriel. Will you return to your place among us? Will you serve the Eye once again?"

"Why not?" Gabriel responded, grasping Nagratek's outstretched hand firmly. As they cemented their grip, memories began to flow from Nagratek's head to Gabriel's. Atheia. Glaian's body. A chestnut haired woman named Eosutana. After several moments of continuous transfer, Nagratek let Gabriel recover while he reached down and undid his cuffs. As soon as he was able, Gabriel stood up and rubbed his wrists.

"So do you understand your mission?" Nagratek asked.

"Perfectly." Gabriel replied.

"Good. I only had the reserve energy to do that once anyway. Now, until you get some actual results and redeem yourself in the eyes of the others, this mission stays between the two of us."

"Naturally."

"There're supplies across the hall. Take as much time as you need." Nagratek began walking back up the stairs. "And there's an exit to the left that'll put you out at the tree line. From there, it's a two day walk to Atheia. After that, you're on your own." Nagratek left the supply room and walked back to the hangar.

When he arrived, he found Thorn, Smiley, and Tom standing near one of the dropships. Perched on Tom's shoulder was Roderick, standing with his arms crossed as he chewed his friend out.

"What's wrong with you?" The Raccoon asked. "We're supposed to be a team. What possessed you to just run off on your own like that?"

"I promise it won't happen again." Tom said.

"Doubtful." Roderick pouted. "But if you're running off on some big adventure, I can't in good conscious let you go alone."

"So now we're bringing a raccoon with us?" Nagratek asked as he approached the four.

"Roderick is a member of a vast community of forest creatures spanning the entire Valley, he's very connected to the dreaming, and he knows most of the mountain terrain." Thorn shot back. "We'd be stupid not the bring him."

"Fine, whatever." Nagratek waived his hand. "Let's just get this underway." The four of them began to walk on to the dropship's ramp. Suddenly a voice broke out behind them.

"You!" A man shouted, stomping his way toward Nagratek despite two Venu attempting to hold him back. It was William, Taneal's brother. "You're the one 'in charge' around here, aren't you?" He looked directly at Nagratek. "I want to know where my sister is!"

"Boy…" Nagratek rubbed the bridge of his considerable nose. "I don't have the time or the patience to deal with another personal problem today, so I'll make this brief. Your sister is acting as my emissary to the Dragon Council at Deren Guard. If you want to see her again, I suggest starting there. And if you are dumb enough to brave the home of the dragons, and you do find your sister, tell her to contact the temple as soon as possible. Otherwise, I don't much care what you do." Nagratek turned around and walked onto the dropship.

"Sorry 'bout that." Smiley said, taking another puff of his cigar. "He's had a rough day."

"If you need anything, find my grandmother." Thorn said as she, Smiley, Tom, and Roderick all boarded as well. "She'll be more than happy to help you." The dropship ramp closed behind them, and after they all strapped in, the craft lifted up into the sky.

"So, kid?" Nagratek asked after they all settled in. "Where to?"

"North." Tom said, closing his eyes to concentrate. "We need to go north." After a moment of pause, he continued. "That can't be a coincidence."

"What?" Thorn asked.

"Percival headed north after we defeated the Nacht, looking for his brother Norman on the advice of Ted. A massive canyon system was at the top of his list. My dream also took place in a canyon, which means we're more than likely heading for the same place."

"I knew it." Nagratek put his head in his hands. After a minute of silence, he brought his face back up. "I think I know where we're going."

"If you know, then what's got you so stressed out?"

"I don't know where it is precisely. Shard's the only living being who's ever been there, and he can't even remember most of what he saw, or any concrete details. It's surrounded by myth and legend. Back when I was still human, people used to call it the birthplace of death. It's where the Locust first burst into reality and merged with Mim."

"What are we looking for then?" Thorn shifted in her seat. "Some sort of barren wasteland?"

"Even worse. We're going to the Crystal Councilman's original laboratory."

* * *

Three Bones sat huddled around a burning fireplace in a log hut. One sat in a small wooden chair, cleaning an assault rifle. Another sat at a table, rewiring a handheld radio. The third stood as close to the window as he could without leaving the warmth of the fire, staring out the window at the trees, the slowly falling snow, and the gradually setting sun. All of them wore heavy civilian clothing, their only unifying feature being the arm bands bearing the symbol of the Eye Glaian had begun distributing to his "crusaders" when he took Argus City.

"Have you gotten the damn thing working yet?" The one at the window asked as he turned to address the one sitting at the table.

"I'm no miracle worker." She responded. "That blast from the sky fried this thing pretty good. But I'll get it working yet."

"You'd better. We need to know what's happening. The Norgabard could be attacked any minute."

"Then shouldn't you be watching the window?" The third one asked, looking up from his gun. "You are the lookout, after all."

"Yeah…" The first one grumbled as he turned back to the window. Just then, the radio crackled to life.

"-come bearing the greatest of sorrows from the frontlines." A voice came into focus over the radio.

"Hey, that's Izaroth!" The woman shouted.

"Quiet." The man in the chair hissed, leaning toward the radio. "This sounds important."

"It is with a heavy heart that I bring you the news of the death of our beloved leader." Izaroth continued. "Glaian Nagratek, may his soul find peace, has fallen in the line of duty against our enemy."

"Oh god…" The man at the window muttered, leaving the window and joining the others around the radio.

"It has now fallen to me to uphold his mantle, to carry on his struggle against the humans who wish us dead. Even now, the snake woman Satranik Haenkos assaults our shores with an army of treacherous, rampaging human mongrels. But we will not falter. I assure you all that I will drive out the invaders, unify our people, and stamp out our great enemy once and for all. I will guide our country through these trying times, and I will make sure our great leader's dream of a free Bone people is realized." The broadcast cut out.

"Dear lord…" The woman stood up and tried to compose herself. "What are we going to do?"

"We'll persevere, as we always have." The man at the window put his hand on her shoulder. "We will see this war to its end. And we will stand among heroes, victorious on the final day."

"What was that?" The man in the chair asked. He grabbed his rifle and stood up, aiming straight out the window.

"I didn't see anything." The man at the window peered through the glass into the snowy foothills beyond.

"I definitely saw movement." The man tightened his grip.

"You probably just saw a fox or-" As the man at the window spoke, a bullet flew through it, skewering him right in between his eyes. Before he hit the floor, two more tore through the window, striking down his comrades. A few seconds later, X'lish walked through the door.

"Clear!" She shouted as she looked around. Nibet and Phoney followed her in.

"You're aim seems to be getting better, Phoney." Nibet remarked as she studied the bullet holes in the three soldiers.

"I'd prefer not to have to kill more of my own people." Phoney said as he holstered his gun. "I'm still President, and I'm still responsible for them."

"You haven't been President for months. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, you died when Argus City fell. At this point, you can pretty much do whatever you want."

"That doesn't matter. As soon as we find Admiral Haenkos, I'm reassuming control of my country and putting an end to this farce."

"Well that won't happen until we get what we need from the Norgabard." X'lish interjected as she slipped the armbands off of the dead bodies. "You may be the President, but don't forget that we still have Jigafta's Orders to carry out."

"Nagratek." Phoney corrected, grabbing an armband from X'lish's hand. "His name is Nagratek."

"I refuse to get used to that."

"You'd better not let him know that." Nibet said as she took an armband and put it on. "We've got what we need. Let's get moving before someone notices the bodies."

After they had all situated their armbands, they left the cabin and began heading north. Eventually, they hit the edge of the tree line, and just in front of them stood the looming figure of the Norgabard.

"Remember the last time we were all here?" X'lish asked as they hung back at the edge of the forest.

"Let's just get this over with." Nibet sighed. She put her arm around X'lish, imitating a wounded limp, and the two of them began hobbling across the open field in front of the Norgabard. Phoney followed closely behind them. As they approached the gate, one of the guards noticed them.

"Halt!" He shouted, raising his firearm. "Identify your-" He was cut short when he noticed their armbands. Immediately, he lowered his weapon and ran out to meet them.

"You don't know how good it is to see a friendly face." X'lish grunted, dragging Nibet's body toward the gate. Phoney drew his gun and faced away from the guard, who had begun helping X'lish carry Nibet.

"What happened, sister?" The guard asked as they four of them came upon the gate.

"We ran into an enemy patrol. We managed to take them out, but my sister twisted her leg. We've been skirting around enemy forces for the past few hours trying to get back here."

"That's odd." The guard commented as his partner opened up the gate. "We haven't gotten any reports of enemy movement this far north."

"I'm not surprised." Nibet smirked as they made it through the gate. She stood up on her legs again and drew her pistols. "We took out most of the lookout posts on our way here." She shot the two guards in between their eyes. As they hit the ground, X'lish slung a silenced assault rifle off of her back and shot the other three Bones walking around the courtyard.

"Let's get moving." Nibet said as she dipped her finders in the guard's blood and spread it on her leg. "We've got to make this convincing." She reassumed her wounded limp as the three of them headed further into the fortress.

"Sniper!" X'lish shouted as they entered the interior of the complex. "Take cover!" Instantly people in the hallways began scrambling. Soon, a siren began blaring and a platoon of soldiers rushed past them on their way to the courtyard.

"You there!" Someone shouted as they moved amongst the din. A man with an officer's band approached them. "You were in the courtyard. What's going on out there?"

"There was a sniper." X'lish responded, not stopping. "He got most of us. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to get my sister to the infirmary."

"But the infirmary's that way." The man pointed behind him, in the opposite direction they were headed. "Just who are you?" He asked, moving in front of them and cutting them off. As soon as he got a look at Nibet's face, he froze.

"Is there a problem?" She asked.

"Nibet Trenya?" He muttered, dumbfounded. "Weren't you in the east with the High Lord?"

"I don't have time for this." She sighed. Before he could respond, she shot him through the heart. Phoney managed to catch him before his body hit the ground, and before the few people remaining in the hallways noticed. As soon as the coast was clear, he laid the body in a nearby storage room.

"You really need to stop shooting people." He commented as they continued on their way.

"He was about to blow our cover." Nibet said as she stood up straight.

"It looks like you've done that yourself, Nibet Trenya." A voice spoke behind them. They all turned around. Across the hallway behind them was a squadron of soldiers with their guns drawn. In between them were Nemyunoi and her brother Wunkhani, Glaian's former lieutenants.

"Nemyunoi." Nibet spat. "To what do I owe this displeasure?"

"Oh look, the bitch can talk back." Nemyunoi smirked. "And here I was beginning to think Lord Glaian had beaten that attitude out of you." She stepped forward and drew a sword from her back. "At least this means I get to have the pleasure of doing that myself."

"Nibet, who is this?" X'lish asked, drawing her own sword.

"Ah, you must be X'lish Trenya. I've heard so much about you. Though I do hope your body guarding skills have improved over the years. Otherwise your President might end up like my mother. You might have known her as Lady Ryonia."

"I hadn't realized Glaian's favor inflated a person's head this much, Nemyunoi." Nibet laughed as she too unsheathed her blade. "Hopefully you'll provide some form of amusement before I slice your throat open." Suddenly Wunkhani rushed forward and slammed his fist into Nibet's gut. She barely managed to block the strike with the edge of her sword. Wunkhani's fingers began bleeding, but he didn't move.

"Don't you dare speak to her like that, you cur." He hissed into Nibet's ear. In response, X'lish placed her sword again his neck.

"Any last words?" She asked.

"I doubt it." Nibet replied backing away from Wunkhani. "He never was much of a talker."

As X'lish prepared to behead Wunkhani, he ducked to the side and swept her off of her feet. As he did so, Nemyunoi ran forward and poised her sword to lash out at X'lish gut. Nibet deflected her blow at the last second with her own weapon. She drew her gun and aimed it at Nemyunoi's face, but before she could pull the trigger Wunkhani grabbed it and crushed the barrel with his bare hands. X'lish staggered to her feet and elbowed Wunkhani in the small of his back, giving Nibet time to get clear of his reach.

Suddenly, Phoney raised his gun and shot a pipe above their heads. Steam flooded the hallway. The four combatants halted their skirmish amid the torrid of gas. Phoney began to flee down the hallway toward their goal, and X'lish and Nibet instantly followed him.

"Stop them!" Nemyunoi shouted, still recovering her breath. The squad behind her ran into the cloud after the three intruders.

"What's wrong with you?" Nibet asked as they ran through a series of side passages. "We had that fight."

"Will you pull your head out of your ass for two seconds?" Phoney shot back. "We have a job to do. You can get back to whatever that was after we get what we came for. Do you understand me?"

"Perfectly." Nibet pouted.

"Look at Phoney, being all responsible." X'lish chuckled. "They grow up so fast."

"Hey, I've been responsible my whole life." Phoney protested as they ascended a flight of stairs.

"That's highly debatable. Didn't you build an orphanage on a hazardous waste landfill or something?"

"I said responsible. Not ethical. That's something I'm still sort of working on."

"Hey you two." Nibet said, stopping at a large wooden door. Phoney and X'lish slid to a halt as well. "We're here." They scrambled inside the room as quick as they could. A moment after they closed the door, Nemyunoi's squad ran by.

"We should be safe for now." Phoney sighed as he stared down the same set of filing cabinets that had greeted him in this room just a few short months ago. "Now let's get what we came for and get out."

They began pouring through the various cabinets, each filled with myriads of files and documents. Shipping manifests, transcripts, documentation of all kinds. Paperwork.

"Remember." Phoney hissed, looking over his shoulder as another group of Bones ran past the closed door. "We're looking for more information on the recent shipments made by Export Systems International. Anything that seems out of place."

"I've got something." Nibet raised a piece of paper into the air. The other two gathered around her to look at it. "It's a shipping manifest, Export Systems International as per usual. It looks like they recently moved some heavy cargo out to the frontlines."

"When?" Phoney asked.

"Several shipments over the last few weeks. But all the contents of the shipments have been scrubbed. There's nothing here to indicate what they moved or how much." She pulled out another file. "All this just three days after they sent a massive bulk shipment of ammo and rations. I'm thinking this is it."

"Does it say where they were taking these shipments?"

"Camp Stalwart. Last I heard, Glaian was using it as his command center in the west. I think it's worth a look."

"Well it better be." X'lish interjected, drawing her gun. The handle on the door began to turn. "Because we're about to have company." The three scattered just before the door swung open.

A lone Bone rushed in, panting frantically as he slammed the door shut behind him. Nibet poked her head out from behind a cabinet to get a better look at him. His entire face was covered in bandages. She gripped her gun and prepared to put him down. He saw her out of the corner of his eye. Before she could react, however, he rushed forward, grabbed her hair, and pulled her out of her hiding spot. She raised her gun to take a shot at him, but he wrenched it out of her hand before she could pull the trigger. Then he slammed her head against the floor, picked her back up, and put her in a choke hold with her gun resting against her temple.

"Hello Nibet." He growled. His voice sounded like he'd been stabbed in his voice box. "Did you think it'd be that easy to put me down?" She struggled for breath as he tightened his hold. Through the pain, she managed to get a solid grip on a knife in her belt.

"I don't know who you are, but go to hell." She grunted, driving the knife into her attacker's stomach. He caught her hand inches from his skin.

"Did you think that was going to work on me twice?" He hissed, his voice seeming to level out. "I'm not giving you the satisfaction of killing me again. I'm going to gut you slowly, like you gutted me. And then I'm going to find Glaian and-"

"Alright that's enough." X'lish said as she stepped out of her hiding spot, her gun aimed at the attacker's forehead. "Put my sister down, or I put you down." She locked eyes with the man holding her sister hostage. Suddenly his grip loosened. Instantly, Nibet twisted out of his hold and rushed to X'lish's side, drawing her sword.

"X'lish?" The man asked, dropping the gun in his hands. "Is that you? What are you doing here? Why are you…?" His voice trailed off. X'lish walked up to him and put her gun to his head.

"You'd better start explaining yourself." She pressed the gun into the bandages between his eyes. He stared at her dumbfounded. It was at that point Phoney decided to poke his head out and see just what was going on. Once the man saw him round the corner, he began to laugh.

"You two finally managed to get one over on me, huh?" He asked as he stood up. X'lish slammed him against the wall. "Though I guess it had to happen sometime." His voice had finally returned to normal. Instantly X'lish recognized who it was she was speaking to.

"That's not possible…" She muttered, backing away from the man. He reached up and undid the bandages on his face. As the wrappings fell away, X'lish's heart skipped a beat. She reached her hand out to touch his face. She looked into his eyes. Staring back at her were they eyes of a dead man. They were the eyes of her husband: Faldr Milzaek.

* * *

"This declaration of war will not go unanswered!" Glaian smirked as Faldr struggled in the snow, his body going numb as he slowly lost consciousness. He tried to move with the last of his energy, but instead he collapsed, blood gushing from his stomach. He faded in and out of consciousness, only catching snippets of what was happening around him. Men dragging him through the snow. His hands strapped to a table. Bones in lab coats crowded around him. Then the pain began again. Not just in his gut, but all over his body. His face, his chest, his limbs, all felt like they were being torn apart.

Suddenly he sat up, screaming, his entire body sore. A Bone in a lab coat next to him squealed and dropped a stack of files. Faldr ignored him and looked around. He was sitting on a table in a room full of medical equipment. He had leather straps on his wrists that he ripped off of the table when he sat up. He quickly wrenched them off before noticing that his entire body was covered in bandages. Then the barrel of a gun was pressed against his head. He turned to see the Bone in the lab coat holding a gun, visibly shaking as he faced down Faldr.

"St… Stay back…" He stuttered.

"Where am I?" Faldr grunted. He was surprised at how gravely his voice sounded.

"You aren't supposed to be able to move." The doctor calmed down slightly and began examining Faldr in greater detail. "After what we did to you… How did you come out of that coma so quickly?" Faldr knocked the gun aside and grabbed the man by the throat.

"What did you do to me? How long was I out?" He asked. The doctor gave only a meek yelp as a response. "Answer me!" Faldr shouted. The man fainted. Faldr threw his limp body aside and stood up. Very cautiously, he opened a door on the far side of the room and was immediately greeted by a group of armed soldiers in a hallway led by an angry woman wielding a sword.

"And now you're up." She grumbled, motioning for her troops to surround Faldr. "It's just been one thing after another today." Just then Faldr rushed forward and slammed his shoulder into her gut. As she doubled over, he grabbed her and held her out in front of him while he edged past her men, being careful to keep her in the path of their guns. Once he cleared her troop, he threw her down and ran for his life. After winding through several long passageways, the procession of soldiers not far behind him, he ducked through a small wooden door and hid as they went past.

Then he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Nibet Trenya. She tried to make a move, but before she could react, he rushed forward, grabbed her hair, and pulled her out of her hiding spot. She raised her gun to take a shot at him, but he wrenched it out of her hand before she could pull the trigger. Then he slammed her head against the floor, picked her back up, and put her in a choke hold with her gun resting against her temple.

"Hello Nibet." He growled, overjoyed that he'd managed to find her so quickly. "Did you think it'd be that easy to put me down?" She struggled for breath as he tightened his hold. Through the pain, she managed to get a solid grip on a knife in her belt.

"I don't know who you are, but go to hell." She grunted, driving the knife into her attacker's stomach. He caught her hand inches from his skin.

"Did you think that was going to work on me twice?" He hissed, his voice seeming to level out, to his own surprise. "I'm not giving you the satisfaction of killing me again. I'm going to gut you slowly, like you gutted me. And then I'm going to find Glaian and-"

"Alright that's enough." Another Bone stepped out from behind a cabinet, her gun aimed at the attacker's forehead. "Put my sister down, or I put you down." She locked eyes with him, and suddenly his grip loosened. It was X'lish. His mind refused to process what he was seeing. Instantly, Nibet twisted out of his hold and rushed to X'lish's side, drawing her sword.

"X'lish?" Faldr asked, dropping the gun in his hands. "Is that you? What are you doing here? Why are you…?" His voice trailed off as his mind raced, trying to figure out what was going on. X'lish walked up to him and put her gun to his head.

"You'd better start explaining yourself." She pressed the gun into the bandages between his eyes. He stared at her dumbfounded, until he saw President Phoncible poke his head around the corner of yet another cabinet. Then he began to laugh, as he realized what an idiot he'd been.

"You two finally managed to get one over on me, huh?" He asked as he stood up. X'lish slammed him against the wall. "Though I guess it had to happen sometime." His voice had finally returned to normal.

"That's not possible…" X'lish muttered, backing away from him. He reached up and undid the bandages on his face. As the wrappings fell away, he looked into her eyes and saw the realization dawn on her face. She reached out and touched him. Then she punched him square in the jaw, knocking him to the ground.

"What was that for?" Faldr shouted as he rubbed his jaw.

"For getting yourself killed, you idiot!" She shouted back. Then she sunk to the ground and threw her arms around him. "I'm just glad you're alright." She began sobbing. Faldr began crying as well. Nibet and Phoney stood by awkwardly. After a moment of intense bawling, Faldr and X'lish managed to compose themselves.

"So…" She began, still taking in the sight before her. "How is it you're still alive?"

"I'm just lucky, I guess." He rubbed the back of his head and let out a small chuckle. "I thought I was done for, but I think Glaian had some doctors patch me up because next thing I knew I woke up on an operating table, covered in bandages."

"Speaking of Glaian, I bet you aren't happy to see me here." Nibet interjected. Faldr glowered at her.

"What are you doing here? Don't tell me you've had a change of heart after you stabbed me in the gut."

"Sort of. Glaian had me under a kind of mind control. I think. I still haven't fully figured out what he did to me. But X'lish managed to pull me out from under his control. For now I'm going to need you to trust me."

"How do I know this isn't a trick?" He asked, standing back up.

"Because Glaian Nagratek is dead." Phoney responded. "He died just a couple of days ago."

"How long have I been out?"

"A little over two months." X'lish answered as she too stood up.

"Two months…" Faldr muttered. "Damn, what did they do to me?"

"Trust me, that's nothing compared to what we've been up to. We're going to have to catch you up on everything that's happened since you 'died' some other time. For now, we need to focus on getting out of here alive."

"Nibet, which way is the roof?" Phoney asked as he opened the door.

"This way." She pointed down one of the nearby hallways. The four left the room and made their way through the fortress. Before long, they emerged onto the snow covered terrace above the fortress.

"So… Would someone mind telling me why we're on the roof?" Faldr asked, looking around.

"We're waiting for our ride." Phoney responded.

"I figured you'd be stupid enough to show up here." Nemyunoi said as she emerged from behind a pillar. Wunkhani followed shortly behind her, but her men were nowhere to be found. "I didn't think you'd manage to find each other so soon, though."

"I take it you guys know who these two are." Faldr said as the four of them spread out across the roof.

"Nemyunoi and Wunkhani Ryonia." X'lish replied, gripping the hilt of her sword.

"You've got to be kidding me." Faldr sighed.

"Oh she's quite serious." Nemyunoi smirked. "And don't think that just because it was one of their teammates that pulled the trigger on my mother that you're getting off the hook. I'm going to make all of you pay for what you did, including your boss Jigafta."

"You're going to have to take a number for that last one." Nibet said as she unsheathed her sword. "He's a pretty busy man these days."

"Enough talk!" Nemyunoi snarled. "Now you all die!" She rushed forward, sword drawn. X'lish and Nibet ran to meet her, their swords clashing. Wunkhani attempted to back up his sister, but stopped in his tracks when Faldr punched him across the face.

"I'm fine with letting my wife handle your sister." He rubbed his hand as Wunkhani shook his head and recomposed himself. "I was never as good with a sword anyway. But you made the mistake of trying to go at us with your fists." Faldr dropped into a martial arts stance. "So now I get to take you apart."

Faldr struck Wunkhani in the chest. Before he could recover, Faldr slammed his fist into Wunkhani's chin. Swept his legs out from under him. Caught him in the temple on the way down. Hit him twice in the ribs before Wunkhani could roll away and stand back up. Despite the barrage of blows, the young acrobat seemed unfazed. Faldr maneuvered behind him, dodging several wide strikes. Then he grabbed Wunkhani's wrist and broke his arm at the elbow. The sound of the joint cracking reverberated across the entire roof.

"Brother!" Nemyunoi screamed, barely holding her own against her two targets. Her outburst distracted her from the fight for just a moment, and in that time Nibet was able to knock the sword from her grip, forcing her even further back

Faldr stood over Wunkhani as he fell to his knees, clutching his arm. Despite the major wound Faldr had inflicted, he remained silent. Not a single sign of pain escaped his lips or crossed his face.

"I'm really sorry about this." Faldr shook his head as Wunkhani stared at his own arm, bent backward by the force of Faldr's blow. "But you really left me with no choice. Now you can either surrender, and we can end this, or stand back up and I can break something else." Wunkhani closed his eyes and stood back up. "Very well." Faldr prepared for another round. Wunkhani ignored him. Instead, he gripped his own arm and bent it back into place.

"Thank you." Wunkhani muttered, putting his fists up, his broken arm seemingly healed.

"Come again?"

"Thanks to you, we've been given the tools to fight long after normal Bones would be dead."

"Thanks to me?" Faldr asked as he and Wunkhani circled each other. "I don't recall ever giving you a hand. I can take one though. That won't be terribly difficult."

"You can drop the act." Wunkhani said, his voice still low and barely audible. "We all know what you are."

"I don't quite know what you mean. But I'll make you tell me, one way or another." Faldr studied Wunkhani's stance, looking for the optimal place to strike. Suddenly a dropship descended from the sky, guns whirling and ramp open. The roof also began shaking, and explosions could be seen off in the distance.

"Another time, perhaps." Wunkhani smiled as he and his sister backed away from their respective fights.

"I'll make sure to thrash you all another time." Nemyunoi hissed as the two of them disappeared back into the Norgabard.

"Let's go." Phoney motioned toward the open ramp.

"I couldn't agree more." X'lish said as the four of them walked onto the dropship. "I've had more than enough amateur hour for one day."

"Hey boss." The dropship's human pilot shouted back as he raised the ramp and prepared for takeoff. "Sorry I'm late. I had pick up a passenger."

"Passenger?" Nibet asked. "What do you mean?"

"He means me." Another Bone stepped out from the cockpit. It was Admiral Satranik Haenkos. "I heard a rumor you all were still alive. So I had to come up here and check it out for myself. And, of course, I brought a battalion of my finest men with me." She surveyed who all was in the dropship as it took off into the sky. "I expect you can explain why… This," She motioned to the four of them, "While we make our way back to my base."

"I can't, exactly." Phoney said. "But I do know someone who can." He pulled out a briefcase from a storage locker and opened it up. It was the same device he had used to contact Faldr and Jigafta months ago. He booted it up and pressed the call button. After a moment, Nagratek's face flickered to life on screen.

"Hello Phoney. I expect you've got some results for me." He said. "Things are... slow going on our end, to say the least. I could really use some good news right now."

"Well you came to the right place." Phoney smirked. "May I introduce Faldr Milzaek and Admiral Satranik Haenkos." Nagratek studied Faldr for a moment.

"Yeah, that about makes sense." He said. "Faldr always was a tough one. So, I take it you two want an explanation?"

"It'd be nice." Faldr shrugged.

"I just got here, and already I have no idea what's going on." Satranik responded. "So I'll take whatever you can give me, Jigafta."

"Right, that." Nagratek sighed. "First of all, my name isn't really Jigafta Utenki. It's Nagratek. As in the true Nagrateks, not Kelkaid's obsessive fantasy. Secondly, before we continue, I need you two to understand that you work for me now. Is that clear."

"My allegiance is to the Republic." Satranik said. "I can't just start taking orders from someone else, even if it's you."

"Would it help to know that Phoney also works for me? Trust me, what I'm about to tell you goes deeper that anything you thought was possible. Now do we understand each other?" Nagratek looked between the two of them. Reluctantly, they both nodded. "Excellent." Nagratek rubbed his hands together. "Now, I suppose the best place to start would be the beginning…"


	28. Chapter 23: Ghosts and Phantoms

Rankyne and Ven sat side by side by side next to a placid mountain stream. Ven had pulled her hood down to concentrate. Rankyne, on the other hand, glanced all around him. Suddenly, as Rankyne began studying the clouds above him, Ven slapped the back of his head.

"Ouch!" He shouted, rubbing the resulting sore spot. "What kind of training is this?"

"It isn't training unless you begin to take it seriously." Ven responded, still staring straight ahead as far as Rankyne could tell. "I told you to concentrate on the water. Let its flow connect you to the flow of the Dreaming."

"I have no idea what that means."

"That's why we're doing this. You've been granted power beyond your imagination, but because you passed the turning without so much as an inkling of your true potential, you have no way of controlling it. And once the enemy gets wind of that, you've already lost."

"I think I can handle myself in a fight just fine. After all, I did take don Roque Ja singlehandedly."

"What you did to that… thing was a fluke at best. Relying on emotion to activate your abilities doesn't make you useful, it makes you a burden."

"That's hardly fair."

"Neither was seeing most of the people I care about turned into horrible monsters bent on my destruction. But then, that's life for you. The only thing that kept me alive during those nightmare years was the extensive training I received from the dragons. And now that same training is all that stands between those same monsters and your life. So if I were you I'd start taking this seriously."

"Fine." Rankyne crossed his arms. "Though if we're going to teach me how to use my powers, I should probably know what exactly I am first."

"I suppose I do owe you that much. I had hoped to gauge your skill first, but you've made it abundantly clear you have no idea what you're doing." Ven threw off her hood and turned to face Rankyne. "We'll start with the basics I set down when I founded the Venu. A Veni-Yan-Cari is someone who can draw energy from the flow of the dreaming and freely manipulate that energy, manifesting it in various forms. These vary wildly, from flight to enhanced physical capabilities to the ability to speak to the dead, and their strength depends of that of the user's dreaming eye.

"Only the dragons know the exact secrets of how Veni-Yan-Cari are born, but I do know that I was the first and that only my descendants have been known manifest abilities. This also makes Veni-Yan-Cari exceedingly rare, appearing only once every ten generations or so. Only a dozen or so were identified by the Venu between my death and the time of Rose and Briar. Despite the extreme rarity of a Veni-Yan-Cari manifestation, the Venu train all members of the Harvester family for years to determine their ability. And during a ritual known as 'The Turning', that training is put to the test to determine whether or not someone is indeed a Veni-Yan-Cari.

"The Turning both marks a transition to adulthood and is symbolic of the true awakening of one's abilities. Reaching The Turning without guidance can leave a Veni-Yan-Cari vastly unprepared for the path they will inevitably have to walk down, and in your case leave you unable to control your dreaming eye altogether. That's the first problem we're going to have to overcome. We'll need to train your dreaming eye so that you can control your intake of dreaming energy."

"And I take it I'll do that by concentrating."

"Precisely." Ven put her hood back over her head. "Now, let's try this again. Take deep breaths. Focus on the flow of energy through your body. Let everything else melt away." Suddenly there came a thunderous crash from the underbrush behind the pair. Instantly, they leapt to their feet and turned toward the sound. In front of them stood the Great Red Dragon, Ted perched on his shoulder.

"Must you make such a scene?" Ven sighed.

"You don't know me very well, do you?" The Great Red Dragon smirked.

"You slinked into hiding with your tail between your legs after Mim died, so I never really got the chance."

"I'm sensing hostility." Rankyne tensed up. "Have you two got a past I should know about?"

"Nothing important, really." Ven said. "It's just that when a dragon refuses to help you fight a war, and then people you care about die literally the next day, you tend to hold a grudge."

"Ven, I-" The Great Red Dragon began.

"Save it. I'm not in the mood. But I am curious why you interrupted our training."

"We found it." Ted responded. "We found the Pawans. Shard sent us to get you."

"Were is this place?" Rankyne asked.

"No time to explain." The Great Red Dragon knelt down. "It'll be faster if we just take you. Hop on."

"I can get there just fine, thank you very much." Ven said, glaring. She stood up and stretched her arms. "Kid, get on the dragon. And consider this a lesson in what you're denying yourself." Rankyne nodded and scrambled onto the Great Red Dragon's back.

"We're heading that way." The Great Red Dragon pointed over his shoulder as he too stood up. Ven closed her eyes for a moment.

"I see it." She said, opening them again. "We'd better get moving." She began floating in midair. Before Rankyne could make a comment, The Great Red Dragon took off running as fast as he could. Ven followed closely behind him, never touching the ground. As their destination, a cave on the outskirts of a small town, came into view, Ven overtook the Great Red Dragon, arriving at the mouth of the cave a split second before him.

"Bloody Stars!" Rankyne shouted as the Great Red Dragon came to a halt and Ven came back down to earth. "That was-"

"Flashy." Ven interrupted him. "But impractical. Flying consumes too much energy for long distance travel. I can maintain levitation for thirty seconds at most before it drains me. It's only advantage is that it allows me to move at blinding speeds, but even then the risk usually isn't worth taking."

"Then why even show me in the first place?"

"Flight is but a taste of what you could be capable of. With the right training, fully developed Veni-Yan-Cari can be capable of leveling armies. I was, at any rate." She staggered and clutched her head for a moment. Rankyne rushed to steady her, but she pushed him away. "I'm fine." She winced. "Though I'll admit flying took a larger toll on me than I'm used to."

"Good, you're here." Shard said, emerging from the cave's entrance. "There's a monstrously high concentration of energy inside. In my time, I've seen maybe half a dozen energy spikes as powerful as this, so we've got to assume the worst."

"Six fully recovered nightmare entities." Ven grimaced.

"Six?" Rankyne asked. "Nagratek said there were seven others."

"I killed Sozenga some time ago." Shard replied. "But she was their weak link, so her death doesn't change how dangerous they are as a group."

"Speaking of which, I'm going to need a minute to recharge." Ven interjected. She sat down and began concentrating.

"Are you serious?" Shard asked. She didn't respond. He shook his head. "Fine. Though I'm only allowing this because we need you at full strength. Next time, don't blow half of your reserves showing off. I'll be waiting inside." He turned and retreated into the darkness of the cave. The Great Red Dragon followed him.

Rankyne, however, sat beside Ven and stared out at the horizon. The sun had just begun to dip below the horizon. As the fading rays illuminated the town below, Rankyne began looking over the handful of buildings. Burn marks, faint but visible, snaked across however few were still standing. The rest lay in the dirt like collapsed husks. Vegetation grew in the streets. A wooden stage stood in the town square, bearing the flag of the Pawan army. Rankyne's heart skipped a beat.

"How did they…" He muttered.

"Is something wrong?" Ven asked, opening her eyes.

"This is my hometown." Rankyne stammered. "I didn't think the Hooded One's crusade left anything standing."

"That's no mere coincidence. They kidnapped your people and took them to a place at the center of the past you're trying to leave behind. Obviously they want to provoke you."

"That seems like too much trouble to go through just to get at one person."

"Shard and I have fought this enemy before. They know full well what we're capable of. But you're different. Deyavara was the only person who knew you were a Veni-Yan-Cari, and even then he didn't know the full extent of your potential. No one knows what you can do. And that's probably scared our enemy more than anything Shard, Nagratek or I could do." She closed her eyes. "Now I'm going to be out here for a little while longer. You might as well go inside and give Shard a hand."

"Right." Rankyne nodded. "Just… Don't take too long." He stood up.

"You'll be fine." Ven said as Rankyne entered the cave. "Just remember to stay focused. No matter what."

"I'll do my best." Rankyne replied as he disappeared into the cave's interior. He winded through an unlit passageway for a minute before he stumbled into a dimly lit cavern. The light came from massive glowing crystals nestled in the walls. The cavern itself wasn't very tall, but it stretched as far as Rankyne could see.

"And where have you been?" Shard asked, looking down on Rankyne with his arms crossed. The Great Red Dragon and Ted stood behind him, muttering to each other.

"I was talking with Ven. Getting some last minute advice."

"Well let's hope it helped because we're about to be in the thick of it." Shard turned around. "This cavern is saturated with dreaming energy, if that's even possible." He pointed to the massive crystals. "These things are the source. The Pawans are trapped inside. I think the crystals act as some sort of siphon, slowly pumping their dreaming energy into the surroundings."

"My people are trapped inside those things?"

"It's the only explanation. Their energy is still flowing, so they aren't dead yet, but there's no telling how long that'll last."

"Do you know how to get them out?"

"I've never seen anything like this before. Your guess is as good as mine. We could just try smashing them, though I don't know how that'd affect the people inside."

"Oh, I wouldn't do that." A woman's face formed out from the nearest crystal and spoke. "It's considered bad manners to interrupt someone while they're eating." Instantly Shard smashed the crystal. The body of the Pawan inside, a child no more than twelve years old, slumped out like a ragdoll.

"Linara." Shard said as the shards of crystal began to coalesce into a humanoid shape. "I was wondering when you'd show yourself."

"The Shattered One." Linara spoke as her body reformed itself and took on the appearance of a tall, blonde human woman. "So you were foolish enough to come here by yourself after all."

"I brought back up."

"A child and an overgrown lizard. Hardly the showing I was expecting." Linara laughed.

"Is that a Nightmare Entity?" Rankyne asked while he checked the unconscious child's breathing.

"One of the more annoying ones, yes." Shard grunted. "She's not going to be much trouble though. The one we've got to watch out for is Eosutana. The rest are small fry."

"Just because I can't eat you doesn't mean I can't kill you." Linara spat. "You've got to pay for what you did to Sozenga. I'm going to start by taking your head, and-" Before she could finish, the Great Red Dragon crashed into her and slammed her against the wall.

"Nagratek gave us a job to do, Shard." The Great Red Dragon said, grunting as he struggled to pin Linara. "Stop playing with your food and get serious." Linara managed to get her arm free and punch The Great Red Dragon square in the jaw, knocking the cigarette out of his mouth. The blow sent him staggering back several feet.

"Alright, fine." Shard sighed. He grabbed Linara's throat and crushed her windpipe. "Playtime is over." Before he could absorb her, a leg tore itself through his abdomen. He dropped Linara and turned to face the other Nightmare Entity staring him down. This one was a lanky black haired man.

"Playtime's just beginning, Shattered One." The Nightmare Entity laughed as he pulled his leg from Shard's stomach. As it left his body, Shard grabbed the leg and lifted the Nightmare Entity into the air. Shard turned to the Great Red Dragon.

"I'll leave Linara in your capable hands." Shard said, throwing his captive Nightmare Entity across the cavern.

"With pleasure." The Great Red Dragon smirked. Linara rushed at him and threw another punch at his head. He caught it just before it hit is face, but the force of the strike moved him back slightly.

"You certainly know how to throw a punch." The Great Red Dragon said, picking up his cigarette with his free hand and putting it back in his mouth. "Now let's see if you can take one." He punched straight through her gut with his free hand. Scrambling, she pulled herself off of his arm, but before she could recover he lunged at her again, his mouth spewing a torrent of flame.

"So, what all are we dealing with here?" Rankyne asked as he stood up beside Shard.

"Two Nightmare Entities, at least. Linara and Zakaita. But there are probably more lying in wait somewhere in here." As he spoke, another crystal took on a human form, this time that of an old woman, and walked over to Zakaita.

"Get up, you buffoon." She chided, standing over his sprawled out body.

"Ronuba." Zakaita smiled as he dragged himself to his feet. "You never fail to brighten my day. How was your meal?"

"I hoped all the time we spent trapped in crystal would have done something about your attitude, but it appears I was mistaken." Ronuba frowned.

"Oh this is fantastic." Shard said, showing off as close an approximation of a grin as his crystalline features allowed. "All three of the idiots, gathered under one roof." He rubbed his hands together. "We couldn't have asked for an easier fight."

"The idiots?" Rankyne asked.

"These three aren't exactly the most effective soldiers in the Councilman's army. They're dangerous enough to a normal mortal, but compared to fighting Eosutana this'll be a walk in the park."

"Well we can't all be born special." Zakaita said, standing back up. "Some of us actually have to put the work in." He rushed Shard again and punched him in the chest. Shard barely moved.

"Rankyne," Shard sighed, "I'm going to put eat Zakaita now. Keep Ronuba busy until I'm finished."

"Alright." Rankyne gulped. "I think I can manage that." He locked eyes with Ronuba. She raised an eyebrow.

"Everyone else gets the pleasure of killing one of our greatest enemies, and I have to settle for this runt?" She asked aloud.

"Well, if you hurry up, maybe you could give me a hand." Zakaita said as he stepped back to avoid Shard's first strike.

"Must you be so persistent?" Shard asked, attempting to grab Zakaita. The two of them moved around the room, Zakaita jumping around and keeping just out of Shard's reach. "I'm starting to think none of you are capable of dying with dignity. Take Sozenga for instance. She barely even put up a fight, dying with this idiotic look of surprise on her face."

"Shut it!" Linara shouted, jumping out of her fight with the Great Red Dragon and kicking Shard in the temple. She had barely landed before her pursuer was on top of her again, still spewing flame from his maw. The two returned to grappling and punching each other without either side making much progress.

"So you're one of Ven's brats?" Ronuba asked Rankyne as she sized him up. "Her Veni-Yan-Cari."

"I like to think so." Rankyne replied, readying himself for attack.

"I guess this didn't turn out so bad after all." Ronuba smiled and licked her lips. "I've never had the pleasure of eating a Veni-Yan-Cari before."

"If you want a meal out of me, you're going to have to work for it."

"Not if what you did at Sinner's Rock is any indication of your fighting prowess. You barely managed to kill one overgrown cat, and even then your brother died in the process."

"You're trying to goad me into attacking first." Rankyne shook his head. "I'm not falling for it."

"I'm inclined to disagree." Ronuba smirked. Her face began to contort, taking on the form of Rankyne's father. Her voice lowered to match his. "I think you'll find this much more tempting."

"Don't you dare!" Rankyne screamed. Before he knew what he was doing, he rushed forward and swung a fist at Ronuba's face. She dodged his bunch effortlessly and drove her arm through his stomach. It only went a few inches deep before his flesh became hard as steel, and her hand was stuck.

"Interesting." She mused, still wearing his father's face. "Ven never manifested such an intriguing ability so soon. I just might keep you around for father to study."

"Shut your mouth, witch." He spat. Grabbing her head, he slammed her temple against his knee. She staggered back, managing to wrench her arm free. Immediately Rankyne took several steps back and tried to control his breathing. "That isn't him." He muttered to himself. "Focus." He closed his eyes for a moment and tried to sense the energy around him.

"Don't mock me!" Ronuba shouted. Rankyne's eyes shot open, but before he could react Ronuba turned two of her fingers into long blades and impaled both of Rankyne's legs. Rankyne screamed in pain. "That's unfortunate." She laughed. "What happened to that stamina you had just a moment ago? I was just starting to have fun." She tried to pull her fingers out of his leg but, like her arm, they were stuck. His body had hardened around them.

Fighting to see straight through the pain, Rankyne drew a knife from his belt and stabbed Ronuba's hand. Then he grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to him. He began stabbing her in the head continually, though each wound seemed to affect her less and less.

"Enough playing around." Ronuba chuckled as Rankyne began to lose steam. "Let's put you out of your misery." She liquefied and wrapped herself around Rankyne's body. He struggled against her, but as her grip on his body tightened he began to lose consciousness.

"Well, this is just fantastic." The Great Red Dragon said, blood running down the side of his face. "They aren't slowing down." He stood next to Shard, their respective fights having reached a brief suspension.

"It's the Pawans." Shard replied. "They're feeding them a constant supply of dreaming energy. We need to take them out if we're going to win."

"Easier said than done." The Great Red Dragon winced, a dull throbbing pain beginning to creep into his fists. "This would be going much smoother if Ven were here."

"She's no good in a fight without energy. We're just going to have to wait this out until she gets back up to strength."

"Are you two done talking?" Zakaita asked. "Because, if you are, I'd like to get back to the part where we kick your asses." Linara chuckled at that statement.

"And to think, the great Shattered One would be so powerless before our might." She said, to herself more than anyone in the room. "I never thought I'd see the day."

"I've been wearing the kid gloves, Linara." Shard shot back. "Didn't want these fine people getting hurt. But if you're going to give me no choice…" Shard's body began to glow. "I guess I can make an exception." He rushed forward and impaled both Zakaita and Linara on his arms. Linara began pounding on his shoulder while Zakaita pushed himself off of the spike using Shard's chest as a springboard. Linara just managed to free herself as well when The Great Red Dragon grabbed her head and slammed her face first into the floor several times. She liquefied and began spreading up his arm. Instantly he set his arm ablaze with his breath, driving her off.

As all four of them rushed at each other, the ceiling gave way. The body of a white dragon crashed through the cavern's roof, destroying much of the hillside above their heads. He was quickly followed by Ven, who jumped into the cavern and surveyed the damage. After taking in the sights before her for a moment, she put her hands together and began to emit a massive sonic blast. It shattered all the crystals in the room and blasted Ronuba off of Rankyne, who had almost lost consciousness. Right after she finished, she collapsed.

As soon at the white dragon recovered, he rushed to impale Ven on his claws. Both the Great Red Dragon and Shard moved in front of his path and dealt him a series of heavy blows.

"Not so tough without your backup supply, are you?" Shard asked, impaling the white dragon on a spike as the Great Red Dragon tore off one of his wings. It immediately began to grow back. 'The other three Nightmare Entities in the room quickly recovered and came to the dragon's side, forcing Shard and The Great Red Dragon back.

"We need to leave." The White Dragon said, his voice booming across the ruins of the cavern. "The Pawans are no longer an asset, and these targets are no longer our primary concern. Father has need of us elsewhere. The time fast approaches."

"As you wish, brother Xondriss." Ronuba grimaced as the three nightmare entities climbed onto Xondriss's back. "We live to serve father." She turned to Shard. "We are not done, Shattered One. This will be the last mercy you receive." Xondriss lifted into the sky. The Great Red Dragon prepared to launch after him, but Shard held him back.

"We need to tend to our wounded." He said. "And we need to call Sybron. Get these people to safety."

"You can handle that." The Great Red Dragon said, shrugging off Shard's grip. "But someone needs to keep track of them. Find out what their next move is." He began bounding off after Xondriss. Ted jumped onto his shoulder as he cleared the edge of the newly formed crater.

"He's stubborn, I'll give him that." Ven said, standing back up. "Though I doubt he'll be able to match Xondriss's speed."

"How are you feeling?" Shard asked.

"I'm alive. Worry about someone else." She walked over to Rankyne, who was lying on the ground fluttering in and out of consciousness. "He's still breathing." She announced.

"Bringing him along was a mistake." Shard said, crossing his arms. "He almost got himself killed and I wasn't able to keep track of him."

"How else are we supposed to test his potential?" Ven stood up from his side and began pulling unconscious bodies out of the rubble. The crystals had largely protected the Pawans from the falling rock, but quite a few of them suffered injuries regardless. "He knew the risks going in. So what did you learn?"

"Well, his current abilities certainly leave everything to be desired." Shard replied, pulling a small mechanical device from inside his body and placing it on the ground. "Hurry up Sybron." He muttered to himself. He then went to Ven's side and began helping her dig up the bodies. "But he did manifest almost your almost inhuman durability when pressed."

"What do you mean when pressed?"

"It seems stress, and negative emotions like anger, seem to draw out his abilities more than your teachings."

"That can't be possible. Veni-Yan-Cari get their abilities from being in tune with the flow of the world. Negative emotions, stress, and trauma all distance people from that flow."

"Unless they're a Nightmare Entity." Shard pointed out. "If they are, that's where they draw their power."

"Shard, we've both seen his soul. He's no Nightmare Entity. And besides, they're nothing more than glorified parasites, sucking other people's energy. If what you're saying is true then…"

"What?" Shard asked. Ven's face darkened. "I know that look. What's going on?"

"It's possible he isn't a Veni-Yan-Cari either. I learned to draw me energy by gong with the flow, like the dragons do. So I just assumed that's the only way to go about it. But maybe it isn't."

"You're starting to freak me out, Ven. Where are you going with this?"

"You assumed, after what happened with the Locust, that Briar Harvester was a Veni-Yan-Cari that had managed to keep her dreaming eye hidden. But what if that wasn't the case? What if she drew her power from the same place he does? Negative emotions, stress, anger, fear, trauma."

"Are you saying he isn't a Veni-Yan-Cari?"

"No, it's clear he has a powerful enough dreaming eye. He has the potential to be a Veni-Yan-Cari. But he isn't using it. When he manifests abilities, he draws his energy from a much darker place."

"It can't be." Shard said, a tremor running through his voice. "I saw him die."

"Yes, but the facts can't be avoided." Ven looked back at Rankyne's body. "He's drawing his strength from the Lord of the Locusts."

* * *

Former Admiral, and ex-President, Satranik Haenkos stood in what should have been her command center. Usually, more than two dozen army personnel gathered around the table in front of her. Instead, the group of four that she had brought back with her from the Norgabard took their place. And in the middle of the table was a screen displaying the possibly the last face in the world she ever wanted to see again: Jigafta Utenki. Or, as he preferred, Nagratek.

"So… Let me get this straight." Satranik rubbed her brow as she attempted to order all the information Nagratek had just given her. "You all need to get some ancient artifacts from Camp Stalwart to keep them out of the hands of what amounts to a god in order to save all life on the planet."

"More or less." Phoney shrugged.

"Well…" Satranik collapsed into the chair behind her. "That certainly is some story."

"It's a lot to take in, I know." Nagratek said. "Take your time. But we're going to need you ready for battle sooner or later."

"A lot to take in?" Satranik asked. "None of that made any kind of sense. I don't even want to know what's really going on if that's the best you could come up with. What I'm having a hard time processing is… This!" She motioned around to everyone else in the room. "Half of you were dead a week ago for crying out loud."

"You gave me your word you'd join the Vedu."

"No, I said I'd work for you. Not join a cult." She turned to Faldr. "What about you. Do you buy this crap?"

"Well… I did come back from the dead, so I'm just about ready to believe anything. And Nibet's on our side now. And Glaian's dead. And, from what you've told us, he hasn't exactly kept his invasion of the Valley a secret, so…" He shrugged.

"You cannot be buying into this. Dragons? Gods? Demons? The Chosen One? This sounds like something straight out of Fone Bone's books."

"He did base them almost entirely on our time in the Valley." Phoney interjected.

"Because that inspires confidence." Nibet rolled her eyes.

"Is that an insult, or are you just being unhelpful again?"

"Well, I'd better get going." Nagratek said. "The world isn't going to save itself. Find those Extinction Drives." He ended the call.

"Fine." Satranik threw her arms into the air. "Don't tell me what's really going on. I don't care. Not that it matters much anyway." She pointed at Phoney. "I expect you'll be taking charge of the war effort, now that you're back." She began to stand up.

"Don't." Phoney put out a hand to stop her. Hesitantly, she sat back down. "I'm no military strategist. With Victor out of the picture, you're the next best thing. And even if you don't believe me, I expect you'll do what I ask."

"You are the President." She responded.

"Good. First things first, I want to know how the war is going."

"Hard to say." Satranik sighed. "Project Thunderbird, your attack on Glaian's 'ceremony', and several divisions of human soldiers gave us the edge we needed to begin pushing back. We locked down the entire coast on day one, and began pushing west as fast as we could. Amidst all the chaos, isolated resistance cells in the south began striking back too. There's still some sporadic fighting across the provinces, but by and large they've forced most of Glaian's army north of New Taebid. Unfortunately, our efforts here have stalled, and we can't link up with them. Glaian's successor, Izaroth Lazbethed, arrived on scene just as we began to lose momentum and organized the enemy's efforts. Based on current intel, he's leading his men from Camp Stalwart, just a few miles west of here. In preparation for an attack on his position, I sent as many men as I could to the north to cut off any reinforcements from the Norgabard. And that's where I ran into your pilot."

"So, the next step is to take Camp Stalwart and go after Izaroth himself." X'lish mused.

"That was the plan. Unless you would like to prioritize locating these 'Extinction Drives'."

"The drives come first." Phoney said. "But I'm not letting Glaian's successor slip through our fingers again." He turned to Nibet. "You've worked with him before. I want you and Satranik's men to find him and end him. During the confusion, I'll take X'lish and Faldr and find the drives."

"Absolutely not." Satranik stood up.

"Excuse me?"

"I can't just send the President of the Republic into an active warzone."

"What makes you think you have the authority to stop me?"

"What makes you think you have the authority to be so reckless?!" Satranik shouted. "This country just got its leader back. I managed to get us into my command center quietly, but that isn't going to last. People will hear about your return, sooner or later, and you need to be where they can see you when they do. You need to remain here and lead your people. You need to be a symbol of hope. You need to prove Glaian wrong. And you can't do any of that from a battlefield." Satranik paused. Phoney stood silent for a moment.

"You're right." He said. "I'll stay. But I expect the rest of you to pick up the slack with me gone."

"Faldr and I will be just fine." X'lish smirked. "You never were much good in a fight anyway."

"I'm going too." Satranik announced.

"But I need you here to coordinate the troops." Phoney protested.

"You'll be fine without me. Besides, I'll do more good in there than out here. My father used to run the place, so I know it like the back of my hand. Nibet's going to need my help if she wants to find Izaroth."

"I don't remember that working out so well for us last time." Nibet scoffed.

"You lived, didn't you?"

"Last time?" Phoney asked.

"That's a story for another day." Faldr chuckled. "Preferably when we're not in the middle of a war."

"Speaking of war, what kind of reinforcements are we looking at?" X'lish asked.

"Thin, to say the least." Satranik frowned. "I sent more than a thousand soldiers to siege the Norgabard, and most of our remaining outfits are busy holding the line against Izaroth's coordinated attacks along the coast. The attack force I managed to scrape together includes two Primarily Y'threni divisions from the UHF 2nd Army and a similar number of our own soldiers from the remains of the Western Army. So far, human soldiers seem to outperform our own in open combat, so I had planned on sending half the Y'threni forces to catch Izaroth off guard while the rest set up a perimeter around the base to prevent the enemy from-"

"I hope you haven't started planning the attack without me, Haenkos." Said a sharply dressed human standing in the doorway.

"General." Satranik said dryly. "Didn't I tell you I wasn't to be interrupted?"

"Yes, well, that was before you began preparing orders for my troops without my knowledge." The General entered the room, followed by another human. "And before the President of the Republic came back from the dead."

"I'm in the middle of something, General, so I'd appreciate it if you'd…" She paused as she got a good look at the second human. "Foreign Minister Cromwell? What are you doing here?"

"I'm afraid my business is for Y'threni ears only. But I did hear that the President was back, so I took some time out of my busy schedule to come see it for myself."

"Hello Elizabeth." Phoney said, crossing his arms. "How are the kids doing?"

"Hello Phoncible. They're doing fine. Amanda's starting school soon. How about you? Did Glaian treat you well in captivity?"

"I…Don't feel like discussing what happened."

"Of course, of course. Being held in a place like the Norgabard can't have been pleasant. I'm sorry I brought it up."

"No you're not. Why are you here?"

"Besides making sure you were doing alright? Well I suppose the Prime Minister would like some sort of assurance that you'll continue to uphold our agreement, even if the Admiral is no longer running the show. But, really, do I need a reason to visit a friend?"

"Elizabeth, this is a warzone. I don't know why you're actually here, but I think it's best you leave before we begin mobilizing forces against Izaroth."

"I could say the same to you, Phoncible. Shouldn't you be evacuating to a nearby island until all this blows over?"

"I don't have that luxury. I've got to see this through to the end. Now, for your own safety, leave."

"Fine." The Y'threni Foreign Minister said. "I'll leave. But, before I go, you should know that the UHF will be holding an emergency session soon. And they expect you to make an appearance. Until then, Phoncible." She left the room, and Phoncible, stewing in thought.

"General." Phoney turned to the remaining human in the room. "Could we get a few minutes of privacy before we begin planning the assault? I have something sensitive to discuss with my people."

"Of course, Mister President. I'll just be outside." The General left the room and closed the door. Phoney turned to Satranik.

"What did you do when I was gone?" He asked.

"It isn't easy to convince a council of egocentric humans to come to the aid of an isolationist power like us." Satranik responded. "I had to make some deals to ensure their cooperation."

"What kind of deals? What's this 'agreement' you and the UHF had?"

"They wanted compensation for sending their own men to die on foreign shores. Frankly I don't blame them."

"What did you promise them?"

"I gave the Wadralians their islands back. The Cartonals and Je'iorad are no longer territories of the Republic."

"Well, that figures." X'lish sighed. "I was just about to pay the house off, too."

"How did you get the Y'threni and the Rhumenese to help?" Phoney continued to press Satranik, ignoring X'lish's comment.

"I…" Satranik rubbed the back of her neck. "Sort of granted them the rights to the Valley. Colonization, mining, that kind of thing. Apparently, they're convinced they'll find oil or something out in the-" Phoney grabbed Satranik and slammed her against a nearby wall.

"Ow!" Satranik winced. "The hell's gotten into you?"

"I could ask you the same. You made a deal with that she-devil and gave away those peoples' futures."

"We needed the UHF's support to launch this counterattack. Without them we probably would have lost the war by now. That deal saved our people."

"And it doomed another!" Phoney spat. "All I've ever done to them is bring misery, I'll be damned if I'm responsible for any more of it!" Silence hung in the air. After not speaking for as long as he could bear, Phoney let go of Satranik and slumped into a nearby chair. "Five years ago, I accidentally instigated a war, robbed an entire town blind, almost got all of my friends killed, and tried to steal Thorn's only means of establishing control over her kingdom. In the last two months, I've brought them a second war, mass kidnappings, deaths in the thousands, and more pain and suffering than I thought possible. After all that, causing suffering seems to be the only thing I'm capable of doing. But I'll be damned if I let it happen to them again. They've already lived through too much."

"Listen, I know you've got a history with these 'Valley' people. I can respect that. And if you can figure out some way to maneuver around the deal I made, I'm all for it. But I did what I had to do. Don't lose yourself trying to help another country and forget about your own. Glaian's put our people through living hell while you were gone. He's still got thousands of those 'clinics' cutting peoples' heads open, for crying out loud."

"Clinics?" Nibet asked.

"Have you guys not heard of them?" Everyone around the room shook their heads. "Glaian set up these impromptu body shops that cut people apart and extract parts of their brains. On the air he kept going on and on about "cutting out the enemy" and whatnot, but more than a few people never come back out of those meat factories."

"Freaky." Faldr chuckled. "I knew Glaian was twisted, but I didn't think he would be that sadistic."

"This isn't a laughing matter." Phoney glared at Faldr. "We've got to find those Extinction Drives now more than ever."

"Well, yeah." X'lish said. "They could end the world. It doesn't get much worse than that."

"Except it does. Glaian began removing everyone's dreaming eyes. Which means he didn't want them connected to the dreaming. And now the Extinction Drives are being moved eastward. There's only one conclusion I can draw from that." X'lish and Nibet's faces suddenly turned grim.

"Is someone going to fill me in on what's happening?" Satranik asked.

"Deyavara didn't want to use the Drives to wipe out just the Valley. He planned on hitting everywhere."

"Didn't Jigafta say Deyavara was dead?"

"That doesn't matter. He's obviously left someone behind to carry out his orders. And whoever they are, they're waiting until Mon'Yaran reconnects the dreaming. Then they're going to wipe out every human on the planet in one fell swoop."

* * *

An eerie quiet had settled over Atheia in the days since the climactic battle that had claimed the life of Glaian Nagratek. Nothing living had dared return to the site of the massacre, save for the few flies that buzzed over the charred sea of Bone, human, and rat corpses that filled the ruined streets. The scale of the bloodshed and the maelstrom of dreaming energy Fone unleashed had sent every other living thing running, wide eyed with terror. Through this city of death moved a great shadow, a being shrouded in the purest darkness. It basked in the storm of fresh souls as it ascended the temple steps.

Inside the crumbling walls of the temple lay two bodies of interest. The shriveled husk of Deyavara, and the mangled remains of Glaian Nagratek. The entity initially moved toward the former. As it knelt down to examine Deyavara's body, it let out a sigh.

"Thank you for everything you've given, brother." It muttered. "Now just leave Nagratek's misfits to me." It stood back up and turned to Glaian's ruined form. Dried splotches of black substance still pockmarked his body, but otherwise he was almost unrecognizable. A massive crystal protruded from his neck, and a web of lacerations covered his body from where the substance welled up from underneath his skin. His forehead was also still caved in from his extremely brief attempt to fight Nagratek head on.

Standing over Glaian's corpse, the entity stretched out an unnaturally long limb and touched the crystal. Suddenly it sparked to life. It began absorbing energy from its surroundings and repairing Glaian's body. The entity stood back and watched as Glaian Nagratek reformed and regained consciousness.

"Are you the one called Glaian Nagratek?" It asked. Glaian smirked.

"Guess again, Eosutana." Glaian staggered to his feet. "I'm not going to let you get rid of me that easily."

"Deyavara." Eosutana said, the shroud around her head peeling back to reveal a human-like face sitting just on top of a mass of black, rippling liquid. "Is there any depth to which you will not sink?"

"I'm not happy about my circumstances either. I had planned to take Nagratek head on inside his mind, but his pet freak Shard showed up and I had to act fast. This was the best I could do, given what I had to work with. If I had more backup, things might have gone differently."

"We had more pressing concerns after we broke free than fighting a losing battle. We required energy."

"Speaking of which, did you find the present I left you all?"

"We did, but I couldn't stay long. And from what Xondriss told me, neither could the others. Their meal was interrupted by Nagratek's allies."

"Shard, I take it?"

"And two Veni-Yan-Cari."

"The 'Chosen One' and the anomaly. I knew keeping an eye on him would prove useful."

"Actually, the child Thorn wasn't present. Instead, the second was our old enemy Queen Ven." Eosutana said. Deyavara slammed his fist into a nearby section of wall. He began shaking.

"After all this time, he still thinks he can have whatever he wants." Deyavara spat. "He's still laughing at me."

"Let me handle Nagratek. You're in no shape to fight a Nightmare Entity, not in that mortal form."

"Don't test me, Eosutana!" Deyavara exploded, lashing out at Eosutana. "I have to be the one to kill him! He took everything from me!"

"You forget your place, pitiful lost disciple." Shadows began rippling out from Eosutana's body, forming several unnaturally long, segmented limbs. "I allow you to live only because we're shorthanded at the moment, with Sozenga dead." Her limbs began constricting his body. "You still have a debt to repay to us before I consider you worthy of Father's blessings. Do I make myself clear?" She locked eyes with Deyavara.

"Absolutely." He said, not breaking eye contact. Suddenly the two Nightmare Entities were interrupted when Gabriel trudged his way up the temple steps. As he got to the top, he examined the scene in front of him and froze in his tracks.

"Is this a bad time?" He asked, after a moment of silence. "I can come back later. I just thought-" He was cut short when Eosutana rushed forward and grabbed him by the neck.

"Speak, tiny human. Who are you?" She hissed.

"Glaian, what's going on?" He asked.

"You can put him down, Eosutana." Deyavara said, walking up to Gabriel's suspended form. "This one was a great ally of Glaian's, and I still have a use for him." Reluctantly, Eosutana lowered him to the ground.

"If he does anything slightly suspicious, I'm killing him." She growled.

"I appreciate the sentiment." Gabriel said as he rubbed his neck. He turned toward Deyavara. "You're not Glaian, are you?" He asked.

"Glaian is dead." Deyavara responded. "I'm just borrowing his body for the time being. My name is Deyavara. From now on, you do as I say."

"And you do as she says?" Gabriel asked, pointing at Eosutana.

"You don't need to concern yourself with who I answer to."

"It's not like I have much choice." Gabriel shrugged. "So, where are we headed?"

"To find the Crystal Councilman." Eosutana said, turning to leave the temple ruins. "And then to destroy Mon'Yaran." Deyavara and Gabriel followed after her. "But first, we need to secure the Extinction Drives."

"Oh, I already did." Deyavara beamed. "By now, they should be on their way around the world, ready to be activated as soon as Mon'Yaran finished reconnecting the Dreaming."

"You moved the extinction drives outside the Great Wastes?" Eosutana asked. She whirled around and struck Deyavara across his face. "You imbecile! You've put the entire plan in jeopardy!"

"Would you relax? All I did was shrink our window a bit."

"Has hate blinded you so completely that you would rather see the humans destroyed than put an end to Mon'Yaran's reign?"

"No. I plan on doing both."

"I should kill you where you stand for your insolence."

"But you won't. Not if you want to activate the drives before Mon'Yaran begins the conversion." Deyavara resumed walking. "I've had more than a thousand years to plan my revenge. I will not let you, or anyone else, keep me from it."


	29. Foundations: Part 5

_**Camp Stalwart, Kuvek Province, forty eight miles inland from the Wadral coastline**_

_**June 2499, Twenty-seven years ago**_

Kelkaid Nagratek sat behind the desk in former General Haenkos's office. Across from him stood Tagyr Trenya. Both of them glared daggers at each other as Kelkaid placed his phone on the desk and pressed a button. He sat back in his chair as a voice began playing over the phone's speaker.

"Another fresh batch of controversy is brewing following the news that General Haenkos and Senator Holdsten, both arrested only a few short weeks ago on charges of corruption, conspiracy, and treason, have both been confirmed dead. Official reports say both men resisted authorities during questioning, eventually leading to a struggle during which General Haenkos got hold of a firearm and took his own life. Senator Holdsten later committed suicide in his cell. This report comes after a battery of inquiries by the National Party led Senatorial Oversight Committee currently investigating the FIC's actions at Camp Stalwart last month. We now go live to-" Kelkaid stopped the recording.

"We're supposed to have people in the media to suppress this kind of leak." Kelkaid said. "Explain to me how this happened."

"We don't have people in the FIC anymore, so we can't control what it submits to the Senate. And once something's been introduced on the floor, it's on public records. This was going to get out there regardless."

"Yes, but the reason we pay RCNN as much as we do is to spin stories like this in our favor. But now the public wants answers. And the FIC will be all too happy to provide them."

"This is a flash in the pan, Kelkaid. In a few weeks, people will forget this ever happened. All we have to do is let the bureaucracy work its magic."

"I'm done waiting around. Your Vanguard have proven ineffective against the Traitor's efforts. We lost New Taebid. We Lost the Successor. And now we're in danger of losing our hold on the government too. You need to find him and end him. Attack the FIC directly if you have to."

"So now you need me? After years of distrusting me, kicking me off the council, and replacing me as the head of the academy, you've finally decided to start trusting me again?"

"I don't like your tone, Tagyr."

"Your father trusted me to get things done. Gaimus-"

"Not another word!" Kelkaid shouted, standing up and leaning over the desk. "Don't ever say his name again! Not after what you did!"

"I can't be everywhere at once. And neither can my Vanguard. Your father insisted on going without protection. He knew the risks. That was his mistake."

"No. His mistake was putting his faith in a snake like you." Kelkaid spat. He sat back down. "A mistake I won't repeat. I'm not going to trust you. But for the moment I need you to do as I say."

"You are the Justicar. I am duty bound to follow by oath your orders."

"We need to contain the situation. Run damage control."

"What would you have me do?"

"The FIC officer who led the attack was named Faldr. And when this all started, a police officer named Faldr Milzaek died in the explosion that took Graham's life."

"Milzaek. That's a name I haven't heard in years. You don't think it could be Virnakt's boy, do you?"

"I'm certain it is. And while I'm excited at the prospect of meeting the son of our founding Vanguard, I'm concerned about what he's capable of."

"Jeleset and I know better than anyone. I'll put her team in charge of hunting him down."

"Her remaining teammates are another issue I was going to bring up, actually. They've proven time and again they cannot work effectively together. And the Lazbethed boy seemed to express feeling for your daughter in the past. I don't want him jeopardizing any future missions."

"For once we're in agreement. I was planning on having him reassigned anyway. Most likely to the Academy, where I can keep a closer eye on him."

"Very good. Now, getting back to the matter at hand, I need your men to find Patrick's son Zachary. We need someone to front in coming election for Patrick's now vacant Senate seat, and Zachary has expressed an interest in politics to his father several times."

"I've had two men monitoring his firm for some time, but I haven't heard from them in days. I sent another team to check on them, but they haven't responded either. I fear the FIC may have already beat us to the punch."

"Damn." Kelkaid muttered. "Well, it matters not. I'll have one of our analysts draw up a list of potential candidates when I get back to headquarters."

"And what about our position here? Can we guarantee whoever succeeds General Haenkos will be willing to fall in line?"

"It will take time for the appointment to get approval. More than enough time for us to make sure whoever gets it is loyal to the cause."

"Why don't we just cut our losses? The FIC knows we have a presence here. They'll be back even if we manage to regain long term control. And if they return, who's going to stop them from breaching our network again?"

"Your Vanguard will." Kelkaid stood up. "That is, after all, why we had the base emptied. We know the FIC will be back. The temptation is too strong. This is our only chance to catch them off guard. With any luck, we can end this conflict here, once and for all. And after we dispose of the FIC, we can search for the Successor at our leisure."

"More importantly, even if I fail, you'll have one less thorn in your side."

"I did make it clear I still don't trust you." Kelkaid began walking to the door. "Now, I really must be going. We both have places we need to be." He left the room. Tagyr sat down in the office for a while and stewed in thought. Eventually his phone went off, interrupting him.

"What is it?" He asked, answering the call.

"Sir, there's something wrong. Someone's-" The voice on the other was cut short by a scream and the sound of a blade slicing through someone's neck. Instantly Tagyr leapt up and tore out of the room. He ran as fast as he could for the data storage room he had left his Vanguard in. When he arrived, a single Bone towered over seven corpses, blood running down his arms, while another sat tinkering with the servers nearby. As soon as the first one saw Tagyr enter, he smiled.

"So, they've still got more bodies to throw at me." The man mused.

"You must be the Traitor the Grand Lord keeps talking about."

"Ah, so Deyavara does remember me." Jigafta smirked. "I was beginning to think he'd forgotten about me."

"I thought you and your entourage weren't killers."

"Faldr doesn't have the stomach for it, and I humored him before, but now it's time to get serious. And I'm starting by sweeping as many pawns off the board as I can." Jigafta took a step forward. Tagyr drew his sidearm and discharged several rounds in his assailant's direction. Jigafta dodged all but one, which grazed his shoulder.

"You're slower than he said you'd be."

"That's a very bold claim." Jigafta smirked. Suddenly he lunged forward and threw a punch at Tagyr with blinding speed. Tagyr dodged within a hair's breadth. As he moved, he drew a knife from his belt and stabbed it into Jigafta's arm. He instantly ducked behind Jigafta and swept him off of his feet. Tagyr tried to seize the moment and punch Jigafta in the face, but he rolled away and Tagyr's fist struck the concrete floor. As he reeled back in pain, clutching his hand, Jigafta stood backup.

"You remind me of someone." He said, crossing his arms to ponder. "Have we fought before?"

"If we'd ever crossed blades before, you wouldn't have lived to tell about it." Tagyr said, stretching his fingers to make sure they still worked.

"Oh!" Jigafta exclaimed. "I think I remember now. I was attacked by a man who fought much like yourself some time ago in the Yadrek Mountains."

"You must be thinking of my former master, Virnakt Milzaek. I think you're quite acquainted with his son, Faldr."

"So Faldr was right…" Jigafta thought for a moment. "And that means… Well, that certainly is interesting."

"I'm not putting up with this." Tagyr said. He raised his sidearm and shot two bullets in the direction of the second Bone. They impacted and shredded a set of cables he had plugged into one of the servers. "Did you think I hadn't noticed?"

"Well that's a shame." Jigafta pouted. He turned to his partner. "Are we still good to go, Victor?"

"It's a temporary setback." Victor responded, not looking up from his work. He swapped a few objects around the server's ports. "I'll have the download complete in just a few minutes."

"Alright." Jigafta turned back to Tagyr and cracked his knuckled. "Shall we continue, then?"

"I'd love to." Tagyr winced, his hand still hurting. "But I really should be going." He grabbed a grenade from a nearby corpse. Pulling the pin with his teeth, he rolled it past Jigafta, directly at Victor. Instinctively, Jigafta kicked the grenade out of the way and grabbed Victor to shield him from the blast. As the grenade exploded, Tagyr used the opportunity to run for the nearest exit. He sprinted through the hallways of the base until he stumbled his way into an occupied room. The scene before him made him stop in his tracks.

Jeleset stood in the middle of the room with her sword drawn. She had it pointed at Faldr, who had his firearm pointed right back at her. They glared at each other. X'lish stood back from the confrontation, unsure of what to do, and Viprus sat in the corner of the room, clutching his blood-soaked side. As soon as Faldr saw Tagyr enter the room, he drew a second sidearm from his belt and pointed it at him.

"Tagyr Trenya." He said, his words sending chills down Tagyr's spine. "After all these years, I've finally found you both. It looks like today is my lucky day."

* * *

_**Milzaek Estate, Ueth Province, near the Southeastern border with the Great Wastes**_

_**August 2488, Thirty-eight years ago**_

The house sat still in the hot, heavy air. Only the sound of crickets cut through the thick foggy haze that had settled over the summer night like a blanket. Nothing else dared move, not even Faldr Milzaek, an unusually energetic twelve year old who normally spent his nights running around the grounds until either his dad or his sister finally managed to catch him. But tonight felt different. It felt off, somehow. So Faldr decided his best course of action was to remain inside and not stir the oppressive heat from the rut it had finally settled into. At least, that was his plan until he heard voices drifting down the hall. The paper walls of the Rhumenese-style architecture didn't lend themselves to keeping conversations private.

Quietly, Faldr crept out of bed and tiptoed toward the voices, taking extra care to avoid the creaky floorboards as much as possible. Eventually, he reached his father's study, where the voices emanated from. As he approached, he peaked around the doorframe and began picking up the conversation.

"It's a beautiful painting." A Bone Faldr didn't recognize stood in his father Virnakt's study, admiring the landscape painting above the fireplace with a glass of wine in his hand.

"Harrison Bone from the Boneville Explorer's Society gave it to me some time ago." Virnakt replied, leaning back in the chair behind his desk. He too held a glass of wine. Behind him stood his current apprentice and Faldr's adopted sister, a girl only a few years older than Faldr that Virnakt has rescued from a life on the streets.

"Ah yes, Harrison. I've had the pleasure of meeting him several times since Gaimus recruited me. Never have I encountered a more honest or resolute academic. How is he doing these days?"

"Shouldn't you know?" Virnakt asked. "He does technically work for your organization."

"He spends most of his time in the field these days. He mostly deals with us through his son Henry. Have you met Henry?"

"Harrison's mentioned him from time to time, but I've never spoken to him in person. I don't see Harrison or his family much these days."

"He practically buried himself in his work ever since the two of you blew up the Yadrek mountain range."

"There was an earthquake, Tagyr. Harrison and I were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"I know, I know, but it sounds so much less exciting when you say it like that." Tagyr chuckled. He took a sip from his glass.

"Why are you here?" Virnakt asked, leaning forward and setting his drink down.

"A man can't visit with his old friends from time to time?" Tagyr responded, appearing shocked at the question.

"If you were, you would've brought something much stronger than this." He motioned to the bottle of wine at the edge of his desk. "This isn't a drink. It's a peace offering. Whatever it is you want from me, you thought this might soften me up first."

"Perceptive as ever." Tagyr sighed. "Well, I suppose you do have much more experience." Tagyr turned around and looked Virnakt in the eye. "You took me in when everyone else turned me away. Taught me to be strong, to stand on my own two feet, and to fight for what I believe in. And I'm grateful for everything you did for me, even if we disagree about how I put my talents to use."

"I gave you help because you were lost and afraid. That doesn't mean I have to put my differences with Gaimus aside because we used to be close."

"Gaimus and I are building a better world, Virnakt. You used to understand that. I'm asking you, as a friend, to try to understand again."

"You want me to knowingly assist criminal organization? You must be out of your mind."

"When I first met you you'd kill for money without a second thought. You used to kill for Gaimus without a second thought too. I know we've had our differences. I know you don't approve of how we do business. But the work we're doing could save the world. The Vanguard could-"

"My answer is still a firm no. I only offer guidance these days, nothing more. You can't ask me to train you an army."

"I am offering you a purpose. A chance to shape the world, to forge blades that will cut away the rot that festers at its heart."

"I gave up trying to change the world a long time ago. All I ever really did was bring chaos. And that's all you'll ever do either. Sow discord. Grow hatred. That isn't a world I want any part in making." Virnakt stood up and turned to his apprentice. "Come, Jeleset. We're done here." He began to leave. "Tagyr can show himself out." Jeleset didn't follow him. Instead, she drew a knife from her robe and pressed it against his back.

"I'm afraid that you can't leave until you hear Master Trenya out." She smirked.

"What is the meaning of this?" Virnakt asked, his hand slowly moving toward his belt, where he kept a dagger concealed for emergencies.

"You know, I came here more as a formality than anything." Tagyr said, swirling his wine glass as he talked. "I can train my Vanguard just fine without you. I just hated seeing you wasting away in your old age. I thought giving you the opportunity to get back into the game would revitalize you somehow. Make you feel alive again. But, if you're unwilling to see reason, then I suppose we won't be able to come to an agreement."

"I don't care about your banal motives." Virnakt spat. "I want to know why my apprentice is threatening to kill me."

"Oh, that. It completely slipped my mind." Tagyr smiled. "I found her not long after you finished training me and turned your back on Gaimus's work. And she seemed just your type, if you don't mind me saying. Poor, lost, vulnerable. Just like him. I knew you'd take her in as soon as you laid eyes on her. I figured she'd be a good way to keep an eye on you."

"After all the years I've spent idling away, you still considered me a threat to your little club?" Virnakt began to strain a laugh. "That'd be funny if it wasn't so pathetic and paranoid."

"I wasn't spying on you, Virnakt. Though Gaimus did ask me to make sure you didn't do anything… untoward. No, I wanted to know why you changed after your job with Harrison. Why you kicked me out." He took the last sip of his glass and set it down on a nearby table. "And more than a decade later I still don't have a good answer." He drew a gun. Faldr gasped. Suddenly everyone in the room looked in his direction.

"And who might that be?" Tagyr asked with a devilish grin. He pointed the gun at Virnakt. "Come out little one." He called toward the door. "I'm not going to hurt you. But if you don't show yourself, I might have to hurt him." Slowly Faldr opened the door and stepped into the room.

"Faldr?" Virnakt asked. "Why aren't you in bed?"

"I couldn't sleep with all the talking." Faldr muttered.

"Sorry about that, buddy." Virnakt said, panic rising in his voice. "I'll try to be keep it down from now on."

"I'm still here, you know." Tagyr said, waving his gun around. "You see, this is what I've been wondering about. You were, in many ways, like a father to me. You practically raised me. You taught me everything. And yet, once this kid shows up you boot me out the door. Neither of us were really yours, so what makes him so different from me?"

"Do you really want to know?" Virnakt asked.

"Why else would I even be here?"

"When I took you in, you asked me to make you a killer. You were young, and you had a fire in you that I thought I could use, so I obliged. And once I'd dragged you across that line, I put you to work. I made you kill, over and over, because it was all either of us knew how to do. Even after I found Faldr that never changed. I never changed. Killing was all I was good for. So I put us on Gaimus's payroll. I thought it'd be easy money. That was the biggest mistake of my life. He made us do things I never want to do again. I couldn't take it. But you seemed to relish it. That's when I realized I hadn't given you help. I'd given you a curse. I'd branded you. I failed you."

"So, what, you didn't like having a constant reminder of your "failure" around? Is that all I was to you?"

"You were like a son to me. But you were also like a mirror. You reflected everything I grew to hate about myself. So I sent you away hoping you'd discover your own path in life. I had hoped you'd step out of my shadow. Instead, you went right back to Gaimus."

"I found a purpose there. That's more than you can say, shutting yourself up in this dusty old mansion."

"I put that life behind me, Tagyr. You've got your answers, now leave me be."

"I'm afraid I can't do that." Tagyr swung his gun around and pointed it at Faldr.

"Don't you dare threaten my son!" Virnakt shouted. Jeleset pressed her dagger harder against his back.

"Normally I wouldn't dream of it, but I can't have you following us, so-"

"Get your gun out of his face!" Virnakt drew his knife and leapt over the table, lunging at Tagyr. Before Tagyr could pull the gun around, Virnakt knocked him to the ground, burying his knife in Tagyr's arm. Virnakt raised the knife to stab him again, but it slipped from his grasp when Jeleset stabbed him in the side of his neck. He turned around, eyes blazing. She slit his throat. Faldr collapsed to the ground, unable to form sounds.

"Did he get you?" Jeleset asked, helping Tagyr off of the ground.

"It's only a stab wound. I'll manage." Tagyr said, wincing through the pain in his arm. "Anyway, that isn't important. We need to report back to Gaimus. Set fire to the house and meet me outside."

"Yes sir." Jeleset nodded as Tagyr began to leave. She grabbed a fire poker from the fireplace and dragged most of the flaming wood out onto the floor. Within seconds, the floor caught fire. It didn't take long for the rest of the house to follow suit. Satisfied with her work, Jeleset too left the room, leaving Faldr alone. Slowly, he crawled over to Virnakt and cradled his father's head.

"Come one dad." He whispered, tears streaming down his face. "Wake up. We need to leave now." As if awaiting a response, Faldr sat by his father as the house burnt down around him. Eventually, long after Faldr had run out of tears to cry, the ceiling gave way. As it collapsed on top of him, Faldr let out a wailing scream, shaking his entire body violently. The burning ruins of the manor silenced him as they hit the ground.

* * *

_**Camp Stalwart, Kuvek Province, forty eight miles inland from the Wadral coastline**_

_**June 2499, Twenty-seven years ago**_

Seven Bones crouched outside the entrance to Camp Stalwart's main building. Satranik Haenkos sat by the door, working on the lock with a pick, while the rest of the team stood guard around her.

"How much longer is this going to take?" Nibet asked in a hushed tone.

"They changed the locks, so it'll take me longer than I thought." Satranik responded. "But…" She worked the pick a bit and a heard a small click from the lock. "We're in." All seven stood up and crept through the door into the entrance of the base.

"Something feels off." Satranik said as they spread out across the room.

"What do you mean?" Victor asked.

"It's too quiet."

"It's one in the morning." Faldr said. "Of course it's quiet. Everyone's asleep."

"No, Satranik's right." Jigafta said, holding up a fist. Everyone in the room stopped moving. "We're not alone." He turned to the door on the far side of the room. "You can come out now. We know you're there." The door opened and in stepped Jeleset, Selthash, and Izagail. Jeleset flipped on the room's lights as she entered.

"Impressive. Truly your skills continue to astound me." She drew her sword. "Unfortunately, your folly ends here. We've got half a dozen more Vanguard further inside, and more on their way." She turned to address her former teammates. "If the three of you join us now and help us destroy our enemies, the High Awakened Justicar will forgive your past transgressions."

"It isn't that simple." X'lish protested. "Kelkaid's been keeping us in the dark. We need to know the truth."

"Truth?" Izagail asked.

"The Order gets all of its money from massive criminal organizations." Viprus responded. "Drug running. Trafficking. Racketeering. They're squeezing the life out of this country for a few extra bucks."

"Lies." Selthash said. "Concocted by the human-loving trash you're so taken with."

"Believe me, Selthash, I wish they were." Nibet responded. "I wish we were wrong for leaving. But I after what we've seen, what Viprus showed us, I can't be sure of what's real or not. I need answers."

"Enough!" Jeleset shouted. "If you aren't going to repent, then you're no different from your new comrades. You will all be executed as heretics." She rushed forward toward X'lish and drew her sword back for a strike. Right before it struck X'lish, Viprus drew his sword and blocked the attack.

"Now Jeleset," He chided, "Let's not lose our heads." Selthash and Izagail both drew their swords. X'lish and Nibet did the same.

"This is getting nowhere fast." Jigafta said, stretching his arms. "Victor and I are going on head. Catch up when these three aren't an issue." He and Victor sprinted off further into the base. Selthash moved to intercept them.

"Oh no you don-" He began to shout. Victor elbowed him in the stomach as he approached, cutting him off. Selthash staggered in place for a moment, giving Victor and Jigafta time to escape.

"I'm going after them!" Jeleset announced, turning from the group and running off to follow Jigafta and Victor. "You two alert the Master!" Izagail and Selthash sprinted out of the room through another door.

"Satranik! Nibet!" Faldr shouted as he and Viprus started after Jeleset. "Go after them!" Nodding, Satranik and Nibet chased after the two Vanguard. After a moment of consideration, X'lish took off after Faldr and Viprus.

It didn't take long for Nibet and Satranik to catch up with Selthash and Izagail. The two cornered their prey in a long hallway. Nibet ran them down and slashed at their heels with her sword. Both of them dodged, but in the process they skidded to a halt.

"So." Satranik caught up to Nibet and locked eyes with Selthash. "You're Selthash Haenkos, aren't you?" She asked.

"How do you know my name?" He responded, his grip tightening. "I don't think we've ever met before."

"So it really is you." Satranik muttered. Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes. "I never thought I'd ever see you again."

"Satranik, snap out of it." Nibet barked. "You need to find your dad's office. I'll hold these two until you get back."

"Right." Satranik shook her head, wiping the tears from her eyes. "The mission comes first. I'll make this quick." She ducked into a nearby room, leaving Nibet alone with her former teammates. Selthash tried to run after Satranik, but Nibet moved in front of his path.

"What did you mean her dad's office?" Selthash asked. "Does her father work here too?"

"Let's just say the two of you are going to have a lot to talk about when she gets back." Nibet smirked.

"I doubt she'll be coming back. We have Vanguard all over this base. Not to mention Tagyr and Kelkaid are currently meeting in the offices as we speak. There's no way she'll be able to survive that kind of manpower."

"I'm not worried." Nibet replied. "I've seen what these military types can do in a pinch."

"They don't look very impressive to me. Perhaps being a heretic lowers your standards."

"Were you always such an ass?" Nibet asked. "Well, it's not like it matters much now." Nibet rushed forward and thrust her sword in Selthash's face. He moved to the side and slashed at her stomach. She stepped back and brought her sword up and to the side to cleave his jaw in two. Izagail blocked the strike, and Selthash swept her feet out from underneath her. She rolled along the floor, barely moving out of the way in time as Selthash's sword descended on her face. She sprung up and swung her sword in front of her just in time to block Izagail as he struck out at her arm.

Selthash pulled his sword form the ground as Izagail and Nibet continued to clash and reentered the fray. He swung at Nibet's neck, but she ducked under the strike and went for Selthash's groin. He jumped up, barely avoiding being castrated, and Izagail brought his sword down on Nibet's, pinning it to the ground. As Selthash descended, he kicked Nibet's sword hand, breaking her grip. She stumbled to her feet and raised her hands to defend herself, but Selthash didn't give her a break. He rushed forward and began swinging wildly at Nibet's head. Izagail, meanwhile, managed to get behind her and sweep her legs again. As she fell to the ground, Selthash wound up his sword to chop her head off.

"This is the end, Traitor!" He shouted. He looked her in the eyes, unable to suppress his massive grin. As he was about to let his sword fly, Izagail threw his sword at Selthash's face. It hit him hilt first, in between his eyes, knocking him out. Nibet sat on the ground, stunned, as Izagail retrieved his sword and sheathed it.

"Why?" She asked, still sitting, as Izagail draped Selthash's unconscious form across his shoulders.

"I won't let our team tear itself to pieces today." Izagail said. "I don't have it in me to watch the people I care about kill each other."

"Bullshit." Nibet said, standing up. "You hated Selthash."

"But I loved you." Izagail responded. He smiled sheepishly. The two of them stood in silence for a moment.

"X'lish told me." Nibet finally spoke.

"She never could keep her mouth shut." Izagail chuckled. The silence returned.

"Come with me." Nibet said abruptly. "You can't honestly expect me to believe you don't have questions too. You know something else is going on here. Help us figure this out."

"I can't do that. I have my orders. But if you come back with us, I can try to convince Kelkaid to spare your life."

"I'm not going back. Jeleset and Selthash made it clear I'm no longer wanted anyway."

"Then I guess this is goodbye." Izagail wiped away tears forming in the corner of his eyes. "The next time we meet, it'll be as enemies."

"I won't kill you Izagail."

"I appreciate the sentiment. But you shouldn't waste any more time on me. Go help X'lish, while you still have the time." He turned and began walking away. Nibet stood and watched him leave. A short time after he disappeared from view, Satranik burst out of another room, panting.

"I found my father's personal records." She said, clutching a leather bound book in her hands. "What happened on your end? Is Selthash still around?"

"They left." Nibet said, picking up her sword. "They won't be bothering us anymore tonight. Now let's go find the others."

On the other side of the base, Jigafta and Viprus chased Jeleset as she pursued Jigafta. After ducking and weaving through several rooms, corridors, and flights of stairs, Faldr drew a pistol from his belt and shot Jeleset in the shoulder of her sword arm. She stumbled, clutching her wound as her pursuers caught up with her. Capitalizing on her exposed position, Viprus leapt into the air and brought his sword down upon her head. She managed to fight through the pain and raise her arm just in time to block the strike.

While Viprus descended on her from above, Faldr rushed her from the front, gun drawn and eyes burning. As Viprus landed in front of her, she moved his sword to the side and grabbed him by the neck with her free hand. Before he could break free, she slammed him into Faldr, knocking them both to the ground. She turned back around to continue after Jigafta, but before she could start running a sword flew past her neck, just barely missing her brain stem. As Jeleset saw the sword go past, X'lish ran up from behind her and crashed into her back.

As they both lost their balance, X'lish reached out and grabbed her sword from where it has imbedded itself in a nearby wall. Bringing her weapon around, X'lish tried to decapitate Jeleset as she fell on top of her. Jeleset blocked the incoming blow inches from her neck. Twisting her body around, Jeleset managed to buck her legs up and wrap them around X'lish's neck from behind as the pair struggled on the ground. Pulling X'lish's head to the floor with a thud, Jeleset scrambled to untangle herself from her disoriented opponent. After standing up, she knocked X'lish's sword aside and prepared to take the dazed woman's life. As she lifted her blade, however, it shattered. Faldr had managed to stand himself up and shoot the sword as Jeleset reared it back.

Before he could fire another shot, however, she threw the handle of her sword at him. The shattered stub of the blade sliced his hand open. As he recoiled and dropped his gun, Jeleset rushed forward and punched him in the stomach. He doubled over, and Jeleset grabbed the sides of his head. She prepared to slam his face against her knee, but Viprus regained his senses and slashed at her arms from where he lay on the ground underneath her. She jumped out of the way in time to avoid his attack, but let go of Faldr, allowing him to recover his gun. Viprus, meanwhile, stood up and began driving her back with a continuous flurry of sword strikes. Behind her, X'lish got to her feet and picked up her sword, prepared to run Jeleset through. Right as Viprus had seemingly pinned her between two adversaries, Jeleset jumped up and over him, arcing just out of range of both of their swords, and rolled behind him over to where her sword hilt had landed.

Picking it up, she rushed toward Viprus again. He prepared to defend himself. Faldr took aim at Jeleset's head. Jeleset and Viprus met. He jumped back, lashing out at her as he retreated. She blocked his blade with what was left of her own, and grabbed his arm, pulling him toward her. Before he could adjust to the situation, she slipped the handle of her blade through his defenses and stabbed him in the ribs. He dropped his sword and fell to the ground, blood flowing freely from his side. Jeleset kicked him in the stomach, shoving him into a corner, and picked up his sword. She leveled it at Faldr, who was still aiming a gun at her. The tip of the blade hovered inches from his nose.

"Jeleset." Faldr said. "I should have known Tagyr whored you out to the Order after you left."

"Finally recognized me, have you?" She asked. "It took you long enough. Though I'm not one to judge. When we crossed paths last time, I almost didn't recognize you without tears streaming down your face."

"Cute. I see you haven't lost your twisted sense of humor."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" X'lish asked Jeleset, interrupting their conversation. "He was our friend. How could you do that?"

"The adults are talking." Jeleset shot back. "Don't interrupt."

"Everything's fine, X'lish." Faldr said, not breaking eye contact with Jeleset. "I can handle this one. Go check on Viprus." Begrudgingly, X'lish did as she was told.

"You know, I always knew this day would have to come eventually." Jeleset mused. "Some part of me knew you'd survived the fire, no matter what Tagyr said. You always were tougher than Virnakt gave you credit for. I knew you'd find us. I knew you'd try to take your revenge. I just never imagined you'd rope the rest of my team into your little quest."

"Typical Jeleset." Faldr spat back. "You always did think highly of yourself. You used to constantly demand father's attention. Everything had to be about you. I guess some things never change, do they? Well, princess, as it happens I'm not here for you. I didn't even know you were still hovering around Tagyr until today. But, since you're already here, I don't think I'll be able to pass up such a golden opportunity."

"Tell me, boy. Have you ever actually killed someone before?"

"Oh, I'm not going to kill you. Not yet, anyway. I have some questions I want answered first."

"Faldr, when this is over we need to have a serious conversation." X'lish said as she stood up, having haphazardly dressed Viprus's wounds.

"Didn't I tell you to be quiet?" Jeleset asked.

"Focus, Jeleset." Faldr said. "Don't get distracted now. We're just getting started. I have questions. And before you die, you're going to answer them."

"Do you honestly think you have what it takes to best me? You could barely lift a sword when we were kids."

"I don't need to beat you head on, I'm the one holding the gun." Faldr waived his firearm around slightly. "Now I'm going to ask you some questions and you're going to give me some answers. For every answer I don't like, I'm putting a bullet in you. Do you understand me?"

"Faldr, this is ludicrous." X'lish said before Jeleset could respond. "I don't know what this is about, but I do know that we have a mission. A mission you gave us. We're here to find out the truth."

"Don't you think that's what I'm doing?" He snapped at her. "I'm getting my own answers."

"Damn it, listen to m-"

"Shut up!" He shouted. "If you want to go join up with Jigafta, you're more than welcome to." He turned his attention back to Jeleset. "Now. First question. What was father's relationship with the Order?"

"Really?" Jeleset replied. "You've come all this way to ask me about dear old dad?" She began laughing. "That's priceless. This isn't an interrogation, it's a farce. If you're really prepared to pull that trigger, then it had better be to kill me. Anything less won't be able to save you."

"If you're not going to answer, then I'm going to have to start getting messy." Faldr sighed. Just then, the door on the far side of the room burst open and Tagyr Trenya stumbled inside, drawing everyone's attention. As he looked around the room, Faldr drew a second sidearm from his belt and pointed it at Tagyr' face.

"Tagyr Trenya." He said, locking eyes with the man. "After all these years, I've finally found you both. It looks like today is my lucky day."

"Faldr Milzaek." Tagyr gulped, blood dripping from a wound on his hand. "You're much more tenacious than I gave you credit for. It's such a shame about what happened with Virnakt."

"Dad?" X'lish asked, taking a step back. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing. Running off on your own. Betraying the Order to these wretches. I thought I raised you better than that."

"You didn't raise me at all." She said, pointing her sword at him. "Is it true the Order fronts criminal organizations?"

"It appears you've already made up your mind about that. I can't say anything to dissuade you at this point. But I can say that I am disappointed. Now Faldr, I-"

"Don't you turn away from me!" X'lish shouted. "Not now! You don't have that luxury anymore!"

"X'lish, back off!" Faldr shouted, his voice almost a growl. "Tagyr and I have unfinished business!"

"Oh, don't give me that! You aren't the only one with skeletons in your closet!"

"I'm flattered the two of you consider my time so important." Tagyr gripped the hilt of a knife on his belt. "But I'm afraid I have to be going. I seem to have run out of time." He whirled around and threw the knife into the hallway. He jumped back as Jigafta ran through the doorway, the knife held by the tip in between his teeth. Victor followed closely behind him.

"Jeleset." Tagyr said as he landed next to her. "We need to leave now."

"Oh no you don't." Faldr said, his guns still trained on the pair of them. "I've still got questions."

"Learn to live with disappointment." Tagyr smirked. "I know I'm going to have to." Jeleset rushed forward and slashed Faldr's hands open with her sword. He dropped his guns and recoiled in pain. She raised her sword again to cleave his head open, but X'lish blocked the strike. Jigafta spit out the knife and began walking toward Tagyr.

"I'm just about out of patience for this crap." He said, almost barring his teeth. He cracked his knuckles as he walked. "I'm ending you here." As he prepared to lunge forward, Nibet and Satranik burst into the room.

"There you guys are." Nibet said, almost sounding relieved. "We've been looking everywhere for…" Her sentence trailed off as she noticed the situation in the room. "Hey dad. Fancy meeting you here."

"I don't have time for this." Tagyr muttered. He gritted his teeth and prepared to meet Jigafta head on as Jeleset still struggled with X'lish behind him. Suddenly, a nearby wall exploded, knocking everyone to their feet. A helicopter hovered just outside the breach. Kelkaid and Izagail stood on its deck, the former holding a spent RPG, while Selthash sat slumped over in one of the seats, still unconscious.

"Tagyr!" Kelkaid said as he tossed the RPG aside, his voice straining to be heard over the sound of spinning rotors. "Let's go!" Without a moment's hesitation, Tagyr scrambled to his feet and ran toward the helicopter.

"No!" Faldr shouted, pushing himself up to go after Tagyr. As he got to his knees, however, Jeleset kicked him in the stomach. He doubled over in pain as Jeleset too ran for the helicopter. Tagyr jumped through the hole with ease, landing beside Kelkaid in the helicopter. Jeleset, however, stumbled as she attempted to make the jump. A Bone's hand clung to her leg. It belonged to Viprus.

He had pulled himself off of the ground and crawled over to Jeleset while everyone was distracted. He grabbed her by the ankle and pulled her to the ground. He raised his sword to take her life. A gunshot rang out. His head snapped back, blood gushing from between his eyes. Bits of blood and bone splattered all over the room. Kelkaid lowered a smoking pistol, content with his handiwork. Without Viprus holding her down, Jeleset wasted no time getting back on her feet and into the helicopter. As she made the jump, Nibet grabbed a gun from Satranik's belt.

"You bastard!" She screamed, tears streaming down her face as she unloaded round after round in Kelkaid's direction. Every shot deflected harmlessly off of the plating of the helicopter as it turned from the group. She continued to pull the trigger as the helicopter pulled away from view, long after she ran out of bullets. After the helicopter dipped over the horizon, she collapsed over Viprus's corpse and began crying. X'lish walked over and sat beside her.

"Sir, we need to get out of here." Victor whispered to Faldr. "Sooner or later, someone will come to investigate that explosion."

"Their friend just died, Victor." He replied in an equally hushed tone. "Let's give them a moment to say goodbye. It's the least we can do after dragging them into this."

"But sir-" Victor began to protest. Faldr cut him off with a wave of his hand.

"If you're that anxious to leave, you and Satranik can go fetch us a ride."

"Yes sir." Victor muttered. He headed for the door and motioned for Satranik to follow him. The pair left the room quickly. After they left, Jigafta approached Faldr from behind and put a hand on his shoulder.

"How are you holding up?" Jigafta asked. Faldr sighed.

"All things considered… I have no idea." He replied. "I lost control when I caught up with Jeleset. I wanted answers. I threatened to torture her. But I was kidding myself. I spouted all that crap because, even though I knew she probably couldn't have told me anything, I still didn't have it in me to kill her. And, at this point, I honestly can't tell if that's a good thing anymore."

"Your father taught you that life was sacred. I can respect that. I can respect wanting to honor his memory even in the face of that burning desire for revenge." Jigafta walked in front of Faldr and grabbed him by the shoulders, staring him in the eye. "But this war isn't about you. This war is about the fate of our entire people. So you need to dig deep and find the strength to cross that line. Or the Order will tear you apart. Do you understand me?"

"Perfectly." Faldr responded, meeting Jigafta's gaze. From outside, someone began honking a car horn.

"Move your asses, people!" Victor shouted at the top of his lungs, his voice barely reaching the room from the street outside. "We don't have all night!"

"Victor's right." Jigafta said, turning away from Faldr and heading for the door. He scooped down and grabbed Viprus's body as he walked past, slinging it over his shoulder. Nibet grabbed onto Jigafta's leg before he could leave.

"What do you think you're doing?" She asked. She looked up at Jigafta, her eyes red with tears.

"We can bury Viprus when we get back to base." Jigafta responded. "We've wasted enough time here as it is." He tore his leg from her grasp and left the room. Reluctantly, X'lish and Nibet got up and followed him. Faldr caught up with them as they began walking.

"I know this probably isn't a good time," He began, not making eye contact with either of them. "But once we get back to base you're free to go. I'm not going to stop you from leaving. The two of you have already been through enough."

"Are you kidding?" Nibet asked. She whirled around and got up in his face. "I already didn't trust Kelkaid, but this? I can't let this go. So as long as we're fighting the Order, I'll do whatever you say. Just promise me, when the time comes, Kelkaid is ours."

"And you feel the same way?" Faldr asked, turning to X'lish. She nodded solemnly. "Well I can't exactly say that I'm glad, given the circumstances that drove you to this, but I can say that we are going to make him pay. I swear it. We're going to make them all pay."

"That's good enough for me." Nibet said. She backed down and began walking after Jigafta again. Faldr and X'lish stood alone in a hallway.

"Listen, about your father…" Faldr began.

"You don't need to make excuses. Least of all to me." She replied. "I never liked him, even back in training. From birth, he taught us nothing but violence. He offered us up to the Order as living weapons without so much as a second thought. And now that all of this has happened." She motioned around herself. "Well, let's just say I understand some of that pain you're carrying around, even if I don't know exactly what's caused it. So, if you're so bent on killing him, I'm not going to stop you. If you want, I'll even lend you my sword."

"I don't actually know how to use a sword." Faldr smiled sheepishly.

"Well I suppose I'll have to teach you then."

"I'd like that. There's not much I can do to return the favor, but if you ever need someone to talk to, I'll be here."

"Thanks. That means a lot." X'lish smiled back at him. "Now, we shouldn't keep the others waiting." The two of them resumed walking in silence. As they left the base, despite everything that had happened, Faldr couldn't stop himself from smiling. For some reason he couldn't quite place, he felt at peace in a way he hadn't in a very long time.


	30. Chapter 24: The Council Convenes

The Spark burns bright in front of Tom Elm as he unleashes its power upon the Nacht. The black, ethereal body of the Nacht rapidly disintegrates and it howls in pain as the Spark burns the malformed dragon's very soul. Tom screws his eyes shut, blinded by the light from the weapon in his hands.

He opens his eyes to find that he floats in a sea of darkness. He drifts for what seems to him an eternity, surrounded by nothing but the vast, empty expanse. Only the slowly growing cold lapping at his body reminds him that he is still alive. Then, after almost giving up hope that he'll ever leave, he sees a faint glimmer of light. He reaches toward the light, straining to move his body closer to it. In response, a child's voice calls out to him.

"Hello." It says, almost playfully giggling.

"Hello." Tom responds weakly, unable to muster any more words. He can feel his consciousness begin to slip away.

"You did good to make it this far intact. No other mortal has." The light begins to grow slightly larger, as if moving closer to Tom. "That intrigues me. So, even if you're no longer a vessel, I'm going to keep you around. For now, at least."

"Wha…" Tom stammers as the light begins to shine brighter, slowly chasing away the darkness and cold entangling his body. Tom can feel his consciousness returning. "What are you?"

"My name is Havaki. And you are Tom Elm, the young boy who, against all odds, managed to draw out some modicum of my power."

"Wait, you're the Spark?"

"No more questions, my little anomaly." Tom feels his gut wrench. He is pulled from the darkness by an unbelievably powerful force. "You'll spoil all the fun." He hears the voice chuckle in the distance as he is thrown back into reality.

Tom's eyes fluttered open. His breathing was uneven and shallow. He clutched at his chest, heart still racing. He sat, cross-legged, on the edge of a cliff face overlooking a massive, labyrinthine canyon system. His companions stood several yards away, next to the lowered ramp of their transport. Noticing Tom stirring, Roderick broke from the group and scampered to his friend.

"Anything new this time?" Roderick asked as he leapt into Tom's lap.

"No." Tom responded. "Just old memories. He may have finally noticed I'm tracking him." Tom stood up, Roderick climbing up to his shoulder. Tom walked back over to the others.

"What's the verdict?" Nagratek asked as Tom joined the circle.

"I can't seem to feel their presence anymore." Tom responded. "It's possible Havaki is somehow shutting me out."

"Is that even possible?" Thorn asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Tom shook his head. They both looked to Nagratek.

"It's possible, I suppose." He shrugged. "There are no concrete records on how the Spark has been used in the past or what its limitations are. Nothing's out of the question."

"So, are we lost now?" Smiley asked.

"Unless Nagratek knows where exactly the Councilman's lab was, I think we're stuck for the moment." Thorn sighed.

"Don't look at me." Nagratek took a step back. "I barely even knew it existed. It's a miracle we managed to find these canyons in the first place. It'll take us days, at least, to search through them before we find the lab."

"It looks like we've got some downtime." Smiley smiled. He pulled a cigar from his vest and lit it with a crumpled pack of matches. Placing it in his mouth, he took a massive puff. "I can work with that."

"If only." Nagratek broke from the group and stepped onto the dropship. "This means we need to move as quickly as possible. We'll have to cover as much ground as we can if we want to find the laboratory before the Catalyst takes hold of Fone." He walked back into the cockpit as everyone took their seats.

"Sorry I couldn't be more helpful." Tom said as the dropship began to lift off.

"You've taken us this far." Thorn responded, smiling. "Without you, we'd be running around blind, like headless chickens."

"I just feel like I should be doing more. As it stands, I'm no longer of any use."

"You want to be helpful?" Nagratek shouted back through the cockpit door. "Come up here and keep your eyes peeled for that cliff face from your vision."

"You scanned my memories, didn't you?" Tom protested. "You'd probably recognize it better than I could."

"I still only have one pair of eyes." Nagratek shot back. "Now either get up and do something productive of shut up and let me concentrate." Reluctantly, Tom unstrapped himself and shakily made his way into the cockpit. Nagratek closed the door behind him.

"Don't think I don't know what this is about." Nagratek said, eyes staring straight ahead as Tom sat down in the co-pilot's chair.

"What do you-" Tom began to ask. Nagratek cut him off.

"I didn't need to read your mind to know you're obsessed with Thorn. In all likelihood, that's why you volunteered to come in the first place. Now, I'm not judging you. You're not the only one here guilty of falling for a Queen. But we'll be entering the lion's den soon. I need to know that you won't get yourself killed trying to show off or play the hero at the first sign of trouble."

"I can handle myself." Tom said, crossing his arms. "I killed the Nacht, remember?"

"You may have faced a Nightmare Entity and survived, but that doesn't make you competent. You pulled that off thanks to an unstable mixture of luck and extremely suspicious outside help. When we get to where we're going, both of those things will be working against you. So consider this your only warning. If you get yourself in trouble, I'm not coming to help you. Are we clear?"

"It's a bit harsh." Tom sunk into his chair. "And rude."

"Are we clear?" Nagratek asked again, his voice rising. He took his attention off the canyon below them and looked Tom in the eyes.

"Yeah, we're clear." Tom muttered, averting his gaze. He sunk further into his chair.

"Good." Nagratek smiled. "Glad that's cleared up." He turned back to flying the dropship. The two of them sat in silence for a while, staring out at the horizon. Suddenly, the air around them began crackling. Sparks of electricity burst into the air all around the cabin.

"Nagratek…" Tom sat up as electricity began racing around the cockpit. Lightning began striking outside the dropship. "What's going on?"

"Nothing good, that's for sure." Nagratek responded. He grunted as the electricity began nipping at him. "There's no storm anywhere near us. This isn't natural."

"You think?" Tom shouted, leaping up from his chair. Before he could brace himself against something, lightning struck the dropship. Instantly it lurched, throwing Tom up into the air. The dropship began losing altitude. Nagratek pulled up on the controls, but they had little effect.

"What's going on?" Thorn shouted from the bay of the dropship. She threw the doors to the cockpit open and staggered in, followed quickly by Smiley and Roderick. "Where did this storm come from?"

"There isn't a storm." Nagratek replied, furiously fighting the controls in a desperate bid to level the dropship out. "I think Reina may have found us." Suddenly the space in front of the dropship began to split apart. A massive maelstrom of electricity opened up as if out of nowhere right in their path.

As the dropship plummeted closer to the maw of crackling energy below it, Nagratek let out a furious scream and jumped up from the pilot's chair. He kicked out the cockpit's windshield. His shape began to contort and grow, taking on the form he used to fight Deyavara.

"Thorn, get the others!" He shouted over his shoulder, his voice shifting lower as he spoke. Before she could respond, he jumped through the destroyed windshield and into the massive storm of energy. Thorn let out a sigh before grabbing Smiley in one arm and Tom in the other. Roderick scampered into Tom's arms as Thorn crouched at the edge of the opening. After a moment's hesitation, she followed Nagratek through the windshield. Launching herself into the air, she soared over the vortex with ease and aimed for the canyon floor beyond it. As she neared the ground, she began levitating and slowing her descent. She landed with and uncanny grace. Her passengers scampered out of her grasp as soon as she touched down.

Once she set foot on the ground, she staggered. Her vision became cloudy, and she clutched her head as she lost balance. When she recovered, she looked up at the sky just in time to see the dropship enter the vortex. As the swirling mass of energy swallowed its prey, it closed violently, tearing the dropship in half in a spectacular explosion. Chunks, large and small, rained down on the canyon floor below. A particularly large section of the hull began hurdling toward Thorn and the group. She braced herself for a massive impact, but right before it hit the ground, another object landed next to Thorn from above.

It was Nagratek. As the tangle of metal closed in on the group, he rushed forward and jumped toward it. As he met it in midair, he punched it back toward where the vortex used to be. It soared through the air at blinding speeds, clear over the horizon. As he landed, Thorn drew her sword and threw her hood up.

"Nagratek, what are we dealing with?" Thorn asked, eyeing the sky for more falling debris.

"Her name is Reina." Nagratek panted, his breath becoming shallow. Black ooze began leaking from one of his eyes. "She's a Nightmare Entity. But unlike the rest of us, she more closely resembles an entity like the Lord of the Locusts. Most of her body is actually comprised of unstable Dreaming Energy, but she has to maintain a-" A bolt of lightning struck Nagratek in the chest as he spoke, sending him flying back.

"Now now Nagratek..." A deep but distinctly feminine voice boomed off of the canyon walls. It seemed to come from every direction. In front of Thorn a massive creature began coalescing, forming itself out of swirling white energy. It moved forward, its body taking the shape of a massive feline. "You really should learn to stop interfering in other people's business." The beast moved its jaw as it spoke, but the words seemed to come from Thorn's mind rather than the air around her.

"Oh great." Thorn rolled her eyes, drawing her sword. "Another overgrown house pet."

"Hey, do you think she knew Rock Jaw?" Smiley piped up from behind her.

"I'm not familiar with the name." Reina mused, slowly creeping toward Thorn with a pompous gait. "Perhaps you've met one of my descendants."

"Yeah, I've met your kind before." Thorn spat back at the glowing creature. "We didn't get along. I'm guessing that's something he inherited from you."

"I wouldn't be surprised." Reina mused, cracking what looked like a wry smirk. "I tried to kill Ven myself on more than one occasion. Disgust for you lesser creatures is carved into who we are."

"Clearly his bad disposition isn't the only thing he took from you." Thorn gulped. Sweat ran down her forehead. "He also inherited your god complex." Reina stopped moving and furrowed her crackling brow.

"I can't speak for my kin, but I know my place. I am but a humble servant of my creator, the Crystal Councilman. It isn't my fault he made my people so superior to yours." She continued prowling forward. Thorn took a step back and leveled her sword at the approaching phantasm, prepared to defend herself. As she focused, something began stirring behind her.

In the blink of an eye Nagratek rushed forth from the crater his impacted had bored into the ground. He cleaved Reina in two as he ran, his strike moving fast enough to separate the air around him. He skidded to a halt and stumbled, barely staying on his feet as he slowed himself down. Reina calmly reformed, this time turned to face Nagratek.

"Really, will you ever learn?" She asked as he staggered in front of her, panting. Her body began vibrating and, after a few moments, discharged a bolt of lightning toward Nagratek. He took a step forward despite his perilous footing and thrust his open palm toward her as she unleashed her attack. The lightning touched it instantly, coursing through his arm in the blink of an eye before jumping out his shoulder and to the ground. His forearm began leaking black ooze from various new burn marks. Other than his arm, however, Nagratek remained intact and upright. A smile slowly crawled its way across his face.

"I didn't think that was going to work." He muttered, almost chuckling to himself. His arm went limp and fell to his side as it began repairing itself.

"You cheeky little ingrate." Reina's unnervingly calm expression began to darken. She charged two more bolts at him in quick succession. As she prepared them, he rushed forward and jumped into the air. The first caught him in the knee and traveled down his leg, jumping out his foot as it arced toward the ground. The second strike came as he descended. Right before it fired, he threw a punch at Reina with his good hand. The lightning jumped through one of his knuckles and out his elbow. The force of the last strike, however, threw Nagratek back up into the air. He landed several meters away in a smoking pile.

"I'll admit you caught me off guard with the first strike." Reina said. She closed in on Nagratek's body. "But nothing can outmatch my power. Not even you." She began charging up more strikes. As she was about to unleash her barrage of attacks, she felt something move through her. She whirled around to find Thorn has thrust her sword through Reina's torso. Chuckling, Reina began moving around the sword, her form uninterrupted by physical matter. Before she could, however, Thorn grabbed her by the throat.

"You nightmare entities are all alike." Thorn said, ripping her sword from Reina's side and raising it above her head. "You think your power makes you untouchable. But, when you get right down to it, you're basically a very dense ghost circle. And I've had plenty of experience dealing with ghost circles" She brought her sword down and cut clean through Reina's neck. The severed head floated a few inches away from the neck, but Reina felt unable to reattach her essence across the "wound" Thorn's sword had left in her.

"You dare!" Reina howled. She jumped back, a new head growing from the stump of her neck as her old one began to warp and contort. It exploded next to Thorn, sending her flying back and spewing several dozen arcs of energy across the ground in all directions. One stray bolt raced toward Tom and Roderick. Smiley stepped in its path and took the hit. As the energy touched him, his arms crystalized and absorbed the attack.

"Well, that's new." He whistled, looking over the energy coursing through his arms' crystalline protrusions. The energy suddenly began struggling against his form, bursting loose in flashes and returning to Reina's body. Thorn stood up from where she had been thrown, and the two faced down the massive lightning cat.

"You two are going to be a particularly tenacious pair of pests to exterminate." Reina hissed. She rubbed her neck, still feeling disjointed where Thorn's sword had managed to cleave her being.

"Are you sure you've never met Rock Jaw?" Smiley asked. He took a puff of his cigar.

"Enough of this farce!" Reina snarled. She leapt forward at Smiley. Thorn rolled to the side, directly in Reina's path, and jumped at her head on. As Reina's claws reared back, crackling with energy, Thorn swung her sword with blinding speed, parting Reina as a massive boulder parts a rushing river. The swelling energy rushed around her as she barreled forward, carving Reina in half from tip to tail.

As the two halves of Reina came to a halt on either side of Smiley, they began screaming and thrashing around, stray lightning firing haphazardly. From where Reina had beat him into the ground, Nagratek rushed forward to the closest half and stuck his hands straight into her side. He screeched in pain as his hands began vibrating, separating on a molecular level and dispersing throughout Reina's half-body. With great effort, he lifted his arms into the air, somehow carrying Reina with him. He slammed her into the ground, his voice going hoarse. That half of her dissipated in a blinding explosion that threw Nagratek back near where he was laying just a moment ago.

The other half, feeling the dispersion of part of itself, dissolved into a misty substance and floated backward and up, away from the fight. It settled on a rocky outcropping jutting out from a nearby canyon wall. Reina slowly retook her shape on top of her perch, staring down at Thorn.

"Now you deserve my full attention, whelp." She spat. "No one has ever-" She stopped when she noticed the canyon walls around her begin to vibrate. She cowered backward, the frequency growing more intense. Everyone in the canyon below fell to their knees, forced to the ground by whatever was causing the vibrations. Nagratek was the only still able to move.

"Get up!" He shouted, propping himself up with one shaky arm. "Run!" The rocks began emitting a low hum that grew louder in volume as time went on.

"What's going on?" Thorn asked, straining to raise both her voice and body amidst the cacophony around her.

"It's the Councilman!" Nagratek shouted back at her, struggling to his feet. "He's here!"

"Reina." The storm of noise suddenly clarified into a deep voice that echoed through the canyon. "Cease this prattling. Our plans have changed. You are needed elsewhere."

"Yes, my Lord." She stuttered, looking around, terrified. She turned to her enemies and resumed her façade of arrogance. "It looks like today is your lucky day, insects." She said, her voice shaking. "I have a higher calling to attend to. I will return to devour you after my task is completed." Before they could move, she bounded up the canyon wall and over the edge of the cliff. Almost immediately after she left, the vibrations in the rocks ceased.

Roderick scampered out from underneath a rock as soon as the shaking subsided. Thorn and Smiley both slowly stood back up. Tom attempted to do the same, but stumbled as he got his footing, fell onto all fours, and began throwing up. Smiley ran over to check on him as Nagratek rejoined the group.

"That was the Councilman?" Thorn asked, turning to Nagratek. He sat down on a nearby rock, his arms slowly reforming out of thin air.

"Sort of." He sighed. The black liquid and crystals covering his body began to retract as he returned to his Bone form. "He moved part of himself into the surrounding rocks to manipulate them. We're just lucky he only wanted to talk. He's been known to cause earthquakes like that."

"Well, the upside is he got rid of Reina." Thorn grunted. "If I'm being honest, I'm not sure how much longer we could have lasted like that."

"Are you kiddin' me?" Smiley asked, helping Tom back to his feet. "We had her on th' ropes."

"Not likely." Nagratek grunted, jumping off the rock and landing on his feet. "Her energy form is almost impossible to destroy. Thorn's the only one here with a dreaming eye strong enough to effectively hit her, I had to rapidly change my composition just to avoid getting myself killed, and you won't be any help in a fight until you learn to control your new body effectively." He pointed at Smiley. "Even if we had managed to dissipate her form entirely, her physical form would still be out of our reach."

"She has a physical form?" Thorn asked, sheathing her sword.

"That's what I was trying to tell you earlier. That thing we fought was just a projection of her soul into the physical plane. We can't kill her unless we manage to kill her real body. Anyway, there's no use dwelling on it now. We still have to find the Councilman's lab." He turned to Tom. "Are you good to keep going?" He asked.

"I think so." The boy nodded. The color had drained from his face, and Smiley was helping him stand. "Whatever that was messed up my balance. I haven't felt that awful since I had to face the Nacht. But I'm feeling better now." He flashed a weak smile. Nagratek frowned.

"If you say so." He shrugged. Tom pulled his arm off of Smiley's shoulder and attempted to take a step forward. He stumbled, and Smiley ducked underneath him, supporting his arm again.

"I'll keep an eye on these two." Smiley said, nodding toward Tom and Roderick. "You guys just focus on getting up to Fone." Nagratek turned and began leading the group deeper into the canyon system.

"Well, there goes our guide." Thorn said, catching up to Nagratek. "Are you sure it's a good idea to move around without knowing where we're going?"

"Tom had been pointing us in this general direction before his connection cut out." Nagratek responded. "Unless you've got any better ideas, we'll just…" He trailed off. Suddenly he stopped in his tracks.

"Nagratek?" Thorn asked. "What's wrong?"

"You're a Veni-Yan-Cari." He said. He smacked himself on his forehead. "Why didn't I think of that earlier?" He turned to Thorn. "Why don't you look ahead?" She frowned at him. He rolled his eyes and placed two fingers against his forehead. "Use your dreaming vision or whatever it is. See if you can't find anything."

"It isn't exactly sight, and my range is limited, but I'll give it a shot." She closed her eyes and put her fingers against her forehead. She cast her mind forward, searching through the Dreaming for anything nearby. After a moment she opened her eyes and put her hand down.

"Find anything?" Nagratek asked.

"There's something off about this place." Thorn muttered. "The Dreaming is flowing exclusively in one direction." The pointed ahead of them. "The way we were headed. I have no idea what could cause something like this, but I don't think we want to find out."

"Can you get us to whatever's causing it? I have a feeling that's where the lab is going to be."

"It shouldn't be too hard." Thorn shrugged. "The canyon starts snaking up ahead, but if we keep following this path eventually it dead ends. The distortion seems strongest there."

"Excellent." Nagratek began walking forward again. "Just lead the way." He looked back at Thorn, motioning her to take the lead.

"There is one other thing." Thorn said as she began walking. "I thought I could feel a massive living organism nearby, but the distortions are making it hard to see individual signatures."

"Could it have been Fone?"

"It felt more like a plant to me, but there was something very wrong about it. That could just be interference though, so I can't say for sure."

"Large plants this far out in the desert…" Nagratek muttered to himself. "That doesn't make sense." He went silent for a moment. His brow furrowed. Thorn glanced around hesitantly.

"Does that mean something?" She asked.

"Maybe." He stared ahead as the path began to curve to the side. "It might be just a coincidence, but keep your eye peeled, just in case."

"What am I looking for, exactly?" Thorn closed her eyes again and returned to probing the Dreaming.

"That." Nagratek stopped and pointed in front of them. Thorn opened her eyes and stopped next to him. Sitting in the path was the wreckage of what looked like a small, one-mast, wooden sailing ship. It lay on its side, its hull punctured in several places by large roots protruding from the ground that had wrapped themselves around much of the vessel. A metallic propeller engine hung limply from the side, held up by two metal pipes strapped to the hull. On the ground around the wreck shredded canvas and tarp, some tied to the ship with rope, lay strewn about.

"What're we standin' around for?" Smiley asked as he, Tom, and Roderick caught up with Thorn and Nagratek. He whistled as he caught sight of the former skyship.

"That's the Queen of the Sky." Tom said, shrugging himself off of Smiley's shoulder and taking a few steps forward. "What the… What is that doing here?" He stumbled forward toward the ship, breaking into a run.

"What's a Queen of the Sky?" Nagratek asked, the rest of the group following after Tom.

"It's Percival's airship!" Tom shouted behind him as he skidded to a halt in front of the wreckage. "He used it to come to the Valley two years ago. We journeyed on it together to collect the pieces of the Spark and defeat the Nacht."

"What's it doing all the way up here?" Thorn asked. "I thought Percival and his family left the Valley?"

"He went looking for his brother." Tom replied. "He must have wound up here somehow." He began climbing the rubble and tearing pieces off of it. Smiley and Roderick climbed up to help him.

"What are you doing?" Nagratek asked.

"Looking for survivors." Tom responded, not looking up from his work.

"This thing's covered in rust." Nagratek commented, kicking the turbine next to him. "It looks like this has been here for quite some time. You're not going to find anyone still alive in there."

"They maybe we can look for clues. See where they've gone."

"I doubt Lorimar let any survivors." Nagratek crossed his arms. Tom stopped working.

"Lorimar?" He asked, turning to face Nagratek. "Do you seriously think she did this? She's our friend, there's no way she would have attacked them."

"Really? Just look around you." He gestured at the vines ensnaring the ship. "Who else could have done this?"

"There are plenty of First Folk who can manipulate plants. It could have been any of them."

"Listen, I know you think she's a good person, but Lorimar is not your friend. She only helped you because her master wished it. And now his plans for your friends seem to have changed."

"What are you implying?"

"She used you, Tom. To get the Spark. And once she had it, she had no further need of you or your friends. At that point, you all became obstacles in her path."

"Liar!" Tom screamed. He lunged at Nagratek, his fist rearing back to strike him. Nagratek took the punch square in the jaw. He didn't move a muscle. Tom continued to scream in his face. "She told me she'd seal it away! That it wouldn't pose a threat to the Valley ever again!"

"Well if she sealed it away, then how did it take Fone? Why are we even out here, if she is who you say she is?"

"She'd never do this." Tom hissed. "You don't know a thing about her."

"That isn't an answer. Why didn't she keep her word?"

"I don't know, alright!" Tom collapsed onto the ground. "I don't know. But I do know she'd never intentionally betray us. She may not be perfect, but she is a gentle soul."

"She pretended to be. But, in truth, she is only what her master commands her to be. Nothing more."

"And who is this so-called master of hers?" Tom asked, looking up at Nagratek.

"A being of immeasurable power named Mon'Yaran. The King of the First Folk and the greatest threat this world has ever faced. He will end everything unless he is stopped."

"I don't buy it." Tom spat. "Who even are you? You're important enough that even the Queen listens to what you have to say, but I've yet to hear you actually explain any of this." He waved his hands at everything around him. "What exactly is going on?"

"I agree with Tom." A voice behind the group spoke. Everyone whirled around to face the newcomer. Standing near the opposite canyon wall was an old bone with mangy, gray, receding hair. He had small, round spectacles perched on his nose and wore a faded green jacket over a tan vest. He also held a large, weathered blunderbuss in his grip, and had leveled it at Nagratek's head. "I want to know what's going on here."

* * *

The sounds of faraway battle drifted through the air around Camp Stalwart. Miles from Izaroth's impromptu command center, his forces engaged the human and Bone armies in a bitter stalemate. The Camp itself was in a frenzy. With the majority of the army busy holding off the enemy, the remaining forces scrambled to pick up the slack. In the middle of the confusion, Faldr, Nibet, X'lish, and Satranik walked into the camp unnoticed.

"Just like old times, huh." X'lish said as the four of them slipped behind a pile of strewn about equipment.

"Are you serious?" Satranik asked in a hushed tone. "The country has been taken over by a madman, one of our best friends is dead, and Jigafta thinks he's some kind of god."

"This all seems fairly standard to me." X'lish shrugged.

"Fairly standard?" Satranik threw her hands up. "There's no precedent for any of this. I'm not even sure what 'this' is."

"We've broken into Camp Stalwart before."

"Yeah, but the last time that happened I wasn't the only sane person left on this team."

"Enough, both of you." Faldr snapped at them, grabbing everyone's attention. "You can bicker later. Right now we've got a mission to complete. From here on out, we're splitting up. X'lish and I will make our way through likely storage locations to find the Extinction Drives. Nibet and Satranik, you two will find Izaroth and end him. And be quick about it. We likely don't have long before Izaroth moves the drives and retreats further inland."

"Any other pertinent information we need to be made aware of?" Nibet asked.

"Actually, there is. Something's not right with the Ryonia twins. I don't know about Nemyunoi, but Wunkhani didn't seem to feel pain when I fought him. And he managed to bend his arm back into place after I broke his elbow. If you run into either of them, keep on your guard."

"Loud and clear, boss." Nibet nodded. She and Satranik began sneaking toward the central structure of the camp. As they left, Nibet turned around and smirked. "You two try to keep your minds on the mission until I get back."

"Get out." Faldr pointed in the direction Satranik had headed and locked eyes with Nibet. She shrugged and followed after her partner.

"So where do you think Izaroth is hiding?" Nibet asked as she caught up with Satranik.

"I thought you would know." Satranik responded. "You're the one who worked with him."

"I never really worked with Glaian's 'generals'. I'd met them on occasion, and everyone in the army knew about his handpicked soldiers, but I was never directly involved with any of them. I was basically just Glaian's assistant."

"I guess it was too much to hope for a silver lining to this shitstorm."

"What's that supposed to mean."

"You spent a year in that cult, and all you did was continually screw things up for us."

"I wasn't myself. Glaian had me under some form of mind control."

"Look, you can drop the bullshit excuses and be straight with me. I know about the investigation Daniel assigned you to. I know you had to maintain your cover, not draw suspicion to yourself. You got in too deep, you forgot who you were. It took you a long time to find yourself again. I get that. But that doesn't mean I have to forgive you for what you did to our friends or our country."

"I'm not making excuses, Satranik. Glaian used a blue crystal to steal my memories and implant suggestions in my subconscious. I believed I was doing to right thing. I only came out of it when Deyavara pulled the damn thing from my head and crushed it."

"Daniel? He's still alive?" Satranik asked.

"Not that Deyavara. Another one. Look, it's complicated, but I'm telling you the truth. I physically was not in control of my actions while under Glaian's command." The pair reached the entrance to the building and ducked inside.

"You know, I'm starting to think you and everyone else actually believe the crap coming out of your mouths, nonsensical as it is. But I'm not buying it."

"I'm not asking you to believe me, just to trust that I'm on your side."

"I can't do that. Not after everything you've done."

"Then let me earn back your trust. Just tell me what I have to do, and I'll do it."

"Single-handedly destroy Izaroth's entire army." Satranik replied casually. Nibet stopped in her tracks and crossed her arms.

"Really?" Nibet asked. "You're making jokes at a time like this?"

"I'm not joking." Satranik walked up to Nibet and got in her face. "Short of winning this war, there is nothing you can do to make me trust you." She backed down and turned around. "But killing Izaroth Lazbethed would be a good place to start."

"I'll take what I can get." Nibet shrugged.

"First we need to find him though. Are you sure you don't know where Izaroth could be hiding?"

"I do know he thinks highly of himself. He was always the most favored of Glaian's generals. He'd probably want to set up in the physically highest or most important location. You know the base better than I do. Any bright ideas?"

"Yeah." Satranik sighed. "My father's former office would probably be a good place to start."

"I guess X'lish was right." Nibet began chuckling. "This is just like old times."

"You and your sister need some serious help." Satranik shook her head and the two of them headed for her father's old office. They made the rest of the journey in silence, keeping their guard up in case of an attack.

"Where did everyone go?" Nibet asked as they neared the office. "There were people all over the camp just a few minutes ago."

"Yeah, I'm not sure either." They arrived at the door. Satranik placed her hand on the handle. "Keep your guard up." She whispered. "We don't know what's on the other side of this door." Nibet nodded. They both drew silenced sidearms from their belts, and Satranik threw open the door.

They burst inside and immediately spotted a Bone standing behind Satranik's father's former desk. He wasn't facing them, but instead looked out the window on the back wall. Instantly they each fired several shots at the back of his head. The shots tore the back of his skull open and he collapsed to the floor. Nibet rushed over to the body while Satranik scanned the room for more signs of trouble.

"This isn't him." Nibet said, turning the body over. Despite the extensive cranial trauma the two had inflicted upon the corpse, the face was still intact enough for Nibet to identify it. "This must be one of his lackeys."

"Well at least we found someone." Satranik said as she walked over to Nibet. "I was starting to think this place was deserted."

"Oh it is deserted." A voice crackled over a set of speakers in the corners of the room. "My men began evacuating the premises as soon as they saw you break the tree line."

"Izaroth." Nibet said, her voice dripping with loathing. She stood up. "Where are you, you little shit?" She asked the voice. It didn't respond. "Can you even hear me?" She asked again.

"I can hear you just fine, Nibet. But I had assumed you'd know better than to think I'd just divulge my location freely. Suffice it to say I'm safely out of your reach for the moment."

"What is this about?" Satranik asked. "How did you know we were coming?"

"Despite your skill, none of you are as stealthy as you think you are. Especially when you're arguing with each other constantly. As for your second question, I want you all alive. At least for now. I could have had a sniper execute you all as soon as I knew you were here, but I still have some unfinished business with Nibet, so I figured I'd stay your execution until it's over with."

"Business? Nibet asked. "What business? We barely know each other."

"While that is technically true, we nevertheless have somewhat of a shared history. And though my current situation required that I remove myself from Camp Stalwart, I do hope we get to meet in person again one day. Now that Glaian is no longer staying my hand. But enough about me. I'd rather discuss your friend Faldr Milzaek."

"What did you do to him, you bastard?" Satranik shouted. Nibet's expression darkened, but she didn't say a word.

"I haven't done anything to him." Izaroth chuckled. "But I can't guarantee that Wunkhani hasn't killed him by now."

"It'll take more than one of your lackeys to do him in." Satranik sneered. "He may not be the best fighter, but X'lish has his back. There's nothing that can stop those two."

"I won't disagree that Faldr is a rather exceptional specimen. His physical capabilities are astounding. But Archibald managed to enhance the Ryonias and me in the same manner. You would do well not to underestimate us."

"What do you mean Archibald enhanced you in the same manner?" Nibet asked. "You talk like Faldr has some sort of special powers."

"That's a question best posed to your leader, Nagratek."

"How do you know that name?"

"Glaian spent many years gathering intelligence on our enemies. He passed his knowledge onto me before the ceremony. I know all about the Extinction Drives too. Unfortunately, even if you manage to find them, I still hold the triggering mechanism, so there's nothing you can do to-" He stopped abruptly. Muffled voices came over the speakers, but they were too quiet to be intelligible. After a few moments, his voice returned.

"I'd like to continue this conversation, but it appears your forces have finally broken through my defensive line. I'm going to have to cut this short for today. And speaking of cutting short, you really should try to locate your friend Faldr and leave before it's too late. I can't vouch for what will happen to him if you take too long. Then again, I can't vouch for what will happen to you either." The speakers went dead.

Satranik and Nibet looked at each other. After a moment of tacit understanding, they both sprinted out of the building. They had only barely exited the complex when several missiles tore through the sky. Nibet and Satranik threw themselves to the ground as the missiles impacted every building in Camp Stalwart. The blast wave threw both of them into the air. They fell unconscious before either of them hit the ground.

* * *

In the days since the Councilman's release, the Bone camp at Hoken guard had been almost completely erased. The desert sands had swallowed much of the strewn about equipment, and the bodies of the camp's former inhabitants lay sunk into the dunes, most already swallowed by the shifting sands. Even the temple that had housed the Councilman lay in ruins, its once proud architecture rent down to its basic components and thrown about the surrounding landscape.

Sitting on the steps of the ruined temple was Archibald Bone. His eyes were closed, and his hands were clasped in front of him. The air around him hummed with energy. Cracks seeping red light had begun forming across his face. After some time, the white dragon Xondriss descended from the sky. Archibald stood up and opened his eyes as the dragon touched down, releasing his passengers. The edges of his eyes glowed with red energy.

"You can't be serious." Linara crossed her arms as the four nightmare entities approached Archibald. "This pitiful creature is father?"

"Know your place, Linara." The Crystal Councilman, inhabiting Archibald's body, spoke. His voice sounded gravely. "I may have been forced into this vessel, but I still possess enough power to erase you where you stand." He raised a finger and pointed at Linara the ground around her began to shake, and she collapsed to the ground. The rest of the nightmare entities quickly kneeled and lowered their heads.

"Forgive me…" She coughed. "I spoke recklessly."

"This will be your only warning." The Councilman lowered his hand. "We have a very limited window to work with. Our first priority must be recovering the extinction drives."

"That won't be necessary." A voice behind Archibald spoke. He turned to see Eosutana kneeling before him, flanked on either side by Deyavara and Gabriel.

"Explain yourself, Eosutana." The Crystal Councilman gestured at her companions. "You approach with rather unexpected company."

"Search your vessel's memories, father. These two played vital roles in your release." The Crystal Councilman closed his eyes for a moment.

"Ah, I see." He said, opening them again. "Gabriel Stafford and Glaian Nagratek. The two of you helped my lost son Deyavara engineer my escape."

"I'm touched you still remember me, dad." Deyavara sneered.

"Ah, Deyavara. So you're still alive, are you?"

"Nagratek may be a better fighter, but I'm far more tenacious."

"Inhabiting such a mortal coil. Pathetic. Look how far you've fallen."

"You're one to talk." Deyavara crossed his arms. "At least my vessel can hold me. Yours will probably be dead within the week."

"I wish your brother had killed you. It would have spared me your unbearable annoyances. And your groveling."

"I'm not here to beg for your approval. We just happen to share a common goal."

"How dare you!" Ronuba shouted. "Your insolence knows no bounds! We exist only as extensions of the Councilman's will! You have no right to-" The Crystal Councilman cut her off with a wave of his hand.

"Silence, Ronuba." He spoke without taking his gaze from Deyavara. "Your brother knows not what he says. He will come to his senses in time."

"He is no brother of mine." Linara spat. "He's a traitor. Why don't we just kill him here and now?"

"Because I want the Valley to suffer just as badly as the rest of you." Deyavara smirked. "I want all humanity, all creation to pay for what it has done to me and my people."

"Your people?" The Crystal Councilman raised an eyebrow. "You have no people. You are an exile, cast out from every family you have ever known."

"That's why I made my own." Deyavara grimaced. "We were a nation of outcasts and exiles. Nagratek and I guided them together for a time, but eventually I had had enough. I settled down. I was content. Until Nagratek turned on me and had my family slaughtered in their beds. In my anger I brought humans to our shores. And witnessed the horrors they wrought on a people they didn't even know. I witnessed their capacity for hatred and violence. This world is better off without them in it."

"You seem to have mistaken my intentions, boy. I do not wish for humanity's end. While the Valley must regrettably be extinguished to halt Mon'Yaran's plans, but life beyond the Wastes may yet go on."

"No, it won't." Deyavara smirked. "I've moved the Extinction Drives beyond the Great Wastes. They will activate the moment Mon'Yaran reconnects the Dreaming. And every human on the planet will die."

"You insolent fool!" The Crystal Councilman raised a hand and the ground around Deyavara crumbled. The sands began to swallow him whole. "You have no idea how much damage you have caused!"

"Your love for Mim's pathetic creatures makes you soft." Deyavara coughed, his vision fading as the sand coiled around him.

"And your needless hatred for humanity makes you blind. You have delivered our enemy exactly what he desires. Unless we can recover the drives, all will be lost."

"That is enough, father." Eosutana stood up and put herself between The Crystal Councilman and Deyavara. "He lost his immortality in his fight with Nagratek. If this continues any further, you will kill him." She locked her gaze with The Crystal Councilman. After a moment, he lowered his hand and let Deyavara go. Deyavara staggered to his feet, coughing as the sand sloughed off his body.

"Be grateful I still have need of you, boy." The Crystal Councilman stared Deyavara in the face. "I'm letting you live only that you may return to me what is mine. Go beyond the Wastes and bring back the Extinction Drives."

"Your threats only sway me because I have been reduced, temporarily, to a mortal vessel." Deyavara replied. "But, I suppose I don't have much of a choice until I can get my old body back."

"I don't care about your reasoning, I care about results. So, to make sure you don't betray me again, Linara will accompany you. To keep you in line."

"But father-" Linara began to protest. The Crystal Councilman turned around, cutting her off with his gaze. "Of course, father. Whatever you require of me." She muttered. She walked forward and grabbed Deyavara by his neck. "Come, brother. We're going back to your 'homeland'."

"As you wish, sister." He grunted. "But may I suggest a faster method of travel?" He waived his hand at a dropship partially buried in the sand. Linara turned to The Councilman and raised an eyebrow.

"Time is of the essence." The Councilman responded. "Take whatever steps necessary to return as quickly as possible." Reluctantly, Linara nodded and dragged Deyavara over to the dropship. Gripping its chassis, she slowly pulled it from the desert sands and set it down on a nearby dune.

"I shall return shortly, father." She said, climbing inside the dropship.

"I will destroy humanity, one way or another." Deyavara said as he followed her. "All this will do is delay my plans somewhat." He too disappeared into the body of the dropship. After a moment, it took off into the sky, flying back toward the Republic.

"Good to see Deyavara is as crazy as ever." Zakaita said. He and Ronuba stood up and approached The Councilman. "So, father. What would you ask of the rest of us?"

"I will address you three in a moment." He waived his hand behind him toward Zakaita, Ronuba, and Xondriss. "For now, I wish to speak of Eosutana's new acquisition." He pointed at Gabriel.

"Who, me?" Gabriel said, still kneeling on the ground. "I'm flattered, really. I just want to help out, however I can."

"I fail to see how you could be of any use."

"Deyavara seemed to think he was trustworthy." Eosutana interjected.

"And we've just seen the value of Deyavara's word, my child. No, I want to determine this pawn's worth myself." The Councilman walked forward and placed his hand on either side of Gabriel's head. The two of them began convulsing. Gabriel screamed. The Crystal Councilman let go of his captive and took a step back.

"So you do seek to help us after all." He mused.

"The dragons are a plight upon this Valley." Gabriel spat. "Tarsil saw through their lies, but Nagratek cannot. I will never recognize him as the leader of the Vedu. So if you're going to continue Tarsil's efforts to destroy the Dragons, I'll help out however I can."

"I won't question your motives as long as you play your part." The Crystal Councilman smiled. "You can start by eliminating the worm listening in on our conversation." He pointed his finger at a nearby pile of rubble. With a wave of force, it exploded, revealing the Great Red Dragon crouched behind it. Instantly Gabriel drew a knife from his belt and rushed the Dragon. As Gabriel closed in, the Great Red Dragon slammed his fist into the ground, shaking it. Gabriel almost lost his footing, but managed to close the gap and drive the knife into the Great Red Dragon's side. With a howl the Great Red Dragon slammed into the ground again, breaking Gabriel's grip on the knife and burying himself in the sand. Immediately, Xondriss rushed forward and slashed at the spot the Great Red Dragon had been. His claws met only sand.

"The red one escaped." Xondriss grunted. "He travels through the earth now. Most likely to deliver what he overheard to his master, Nagratek."

"It matters little." The Councilman shrugged. "He can do nothing to stop our plans. What's more important is that our newest partner has proven his loyalty to our cause."

"What's our next move?" Ronuba asked, looking around at the desert landscape. "And where in the world has Reina gone off to?"

"I sent her on ahead. She's been tasked with finding Nagratek's hideout and destroying it."

"Isn't that a fruitless endeavor?" Zakaita asked. "After all, Nagratek's efforts to stop us are of no consequence."

"We must remain cautious, Zakaita." Eosutana replied. "After all, Nagratek has gathered an impressive number of anomalous pieces to his side. The Shattered One, the Locust's new vessel, the boy who held the Spark, the Chosen One, and Ven the first Veni-Yan-Cari have all joined forces under his banner. If we let power like that sit idle, we will eventually regret it."

"Which is why you will all join her in her search." The Councilman replied. "We must crush them all in one fell swoop if we want to focus on our true enemy."

"They possess substantial forces." Gabriel said, drawing the attention of everyone around him. "The humans have stolen the Bone technology and wield it with ever greater proficiency. You're going to need an army if you want to eliminate them quickly."

The Crystal Councilman smirked. He raised his hands and his skin began to glow red. More cracks formed across his face, and energy poured from his body, winding its way across the ruins of the temple and beyond. Slowly, all around the camp, the bodies of the dead Bones began to rise, pulling themselves from their sand tombs. Their eyes glowed red, and their bodies moved in union, slowly trudging toward the center of the red energy mist, the Crystal Councilman. As the bodies stopped moving, Gabriel stared around him, awestruck.

"Well, my dear boy." The Councilman returned his attention to Gabriel. "It just so happens we do have an army."


End file.
